The Journals of Harry Potter, Book 1: The Spiral-Bound Notebook
by Rosa Mundi
Summary: My name is Harry Potter. I am ten years, ten months, and five days old. I am starting this journal to sort out my thoughts and keep track of my plans. (Mildly AU from 1 Nov 81, will become more so as time rolls on.)
1. Wherein Harry gets a spiral-bound notebk

My name is Harry Potter. I am ten years, ten months, and five days old. I can't do hours and minutes, or rising or moon sign, as I don't know what time I was born - or where, either, for that matter, although I do know it wasn't in a hospital.

What I do know is that my parents died in a car crash, and that my dad was probably drunk, when I was not quite two years old, and some of my dad's friends dropped me off on my aunt's and uncle's doorstep in the middle of the night with nothing but a note and not even having been seen by a doctor afterwards. My aunt isn't the world's kindest person, and I do know to take her criticisms with a whole shaker full of salt, but really, what kind of people do that? And when my aunt and uncle took me to the doctor, they found out that I didn't have a birth certificate or any record of even existing, and so obviously no infant shots either. My aunt and uncle are still mad about that, and having to do all that paperwork on top of dealing with the fact that those weirdos my dad hung out with got my mom killed.

My mother's name was Lily. I know that she was beautiful, smart, and couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and that she was Aunt Petunia's little sister. I also know that she got a scholarship to some special school that Aunt Petunia didn't get to go to, and that she met my father there and married him right after finishing there.

All I know about my dad is that I look just like him, except that I have Mum's eyes, and that he was an arrogant bast... Erm, berk. That's almost word for word what my aunt and uncle say about him. Oh yeah, and I know he just about ruined my aunt and uncle's wedding because he thought he was really funny.

This isn't stuff Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon told me, by the way. I listen a lot, especially when they toast the New Year, as AP gets really talkative when she's had a few.

Aunt Petunia complains a lot. That's kind of who she is. If she didn't feel hard done by, I think she wouldn't know what to do with herself. All the same, I've been listening to her complain about people and things all my life, I definitely know how to work out which complaints are actually compliments, and my dad really does sound like a piece of work. The only good thing AP says about me on purpose is that at least I've learned good manners some of the time, unlike my (worthless degenerate) father.

Oh yeah, and this is funny, I once overheard AP refer to both my parents as being "too pretty for their own good". Since I look just like my dad, I'd be good looking too if I had decent clothes. I think that's a riot, actually. She doesn't know I heard that, so she doesn't know that every time she says I look just like _him_ (and you really need to get the proper sneer behind that), that she's actually giving me a compliment.

My aunt was really really jealous of my mom. I don't know if my grandparents really worshipped the ground she walked on or if she just thinks they did, but I figure, the way she treats me & Dudley is her revenge. Dudley is my cousin, their son, and he can do no wrong, where I can do no right. He's a bullying spoiled lardball and sometimes I'm surprised he hasn't killed or maimed me yet. Not for lack of trying, certainly.

Yeah, my life kind of sucks. When I was little, I used to dream of someone rescuing me from here, but I figured out a long time ago that I need to rescue myself. Come this fall, I'm halfway there, too. Dudley's off to Smeltings, which is UV's old school, and I'm off to Stonewall, the local school. Aunt & Uncle already know his school is much more posh than mine, so I can stop worrying about keeping my grades down. And Dudley won't be there to scare away everyone I might try to make friends with, and they take kids from all over Little, Less, and Greater Whinging, so all the kids won't already know to keep away from me. I'm still going to be wearing awful clothes, but I've been teaching myself to sew, so hopefully I can fix that, at least a little.

My plan is, to tailor my uniforms so I only look scruffy rather than completely disreputable and slowly bring my grades up. Still thinking about that last, though. If my excuse for better grades is that they grade easier at Stonewall because we're all so hopeless, would it make more sense for me to get good grades right out of the gate? But then, the teachers will know that's rubbish, so if my grades change quickly, they could decide I was cheating. Oh well, I still have three months to think about it.

That's why I've started keeping this journal, by the way. To sound out my thoughts and organize them, keep track of what I know and how my plans are going. I'm keeping it under my mattress, so I'm not too worried about anyone seeing. Nobody but me ever comes in here.

6 June 1991

It's really frustrating not knowing what time I was born. There are some really in-depth books on astrology at the library and I'm having a grand time reading them. I know it's rubbish, really, but it's something to do and it has lots of lovely fussy details to mess with. And one, I'm never going to be graded on it, so I can study as much as I like, two, it's not a subject anybody I know is at all interested in, so there's not much risk of me letting anything slip like there would be if I were reading up on football or the like, and three, I know AP and UV would, well, "disapprove" is too mild a word. UV'd probably have a stroke on the spot. Be kinda funny to watch if I didn't have to worry about him taking my head off. (He almost never hits me, but I'm pretty good at reading him and not pushing at the wrong time.)

Anyway, what I do know is that I'm a Leo (popular astrology has arrogance strongly associated with that sign; that's way too simplistic, of course, but it is good to know to watch out for it, especially considering heredity), with a lot of planets in water signs. This means I'm a great leader (ha ha) and very emotionally driven. The first is funny. The second is way too true. I don't like mucking about with feelings, but things just work a lot better when I do. Blah. It's not at all sensible, but it's true, so I'm stuck with it.

Venus is prominent in my chart, so I'm a people-pleaser. No. Really? It's not really my aunt and uncle's fault, it's really the planets?

The main thrust of my chart is nobility, leadership, heroism, love and other strong emotions, willpower, compassion, and modesty. I guess that last must be right, as I think the rest is bollocks. I think I'll do Dudley's chart next, to see what wonderful qualities he supposedly has.

I complain too much. I'm going to turn into Aunt Petunia if I don't watch out. It's hard to see the bright side though. Most of the time I want to disappear or punch something. But, today's a gardening day, and I actually rather enjoy gardening, so that's something. And tomorrow AP and Dudley need to do a bunch of school shopping and paperwork and stuff, so I get to spend the afternoon at the library. (AP thinks I'm at Mrs. Figg's house, but Mrs. Figg and I have had an agreement for a while. I give her a hand with litter boxes and brush Tango for her, and she lets me hang out at the library and sometimes even points me out some interesting books.)

Tango is one of her tomcats, by the way. He's huge and for some reason I'm the only one who can brush him. Piers Polkiss (one of Dudley's unprintable friends) is terrified of him.

Anyway, it's time to fix breakfast, so I'll write more later.


	2. Six and Seven June, 1991

6 June 1991 again, PM this time

Wow.

Today was just a day, nothing special. I got up, got dressed, ate a handful or so of raisins, fixed breakfast for everyone and went to school, which was also the same old thing. Then I came home and worked in the garden until it was time to wash up and help with dinner, and now everyone's asleep and I have the house to myself.

The wow is that I spent the whole day paying so much more attention than usual. Everything I saw, I was thinking if I wanted to write about it, and if I did, what did I want to say. Most of it I forgot again except for

Deck the walls with lattice towers

Fa la la la la la la la la

'Tis the season to plant flowers

Fa la la la la la la la la

I think I should keep my day job.

I'm tired, but I wanted to write the feeling down, as well as the stupid poem. It doesn't have to be great, it makes me laugh. And now to sleep. More later.

7 June 1991, Friday

Bah, I forgot. Saturday is AP and Dudley's big day out. Today is Friday. Pfui.

So today I went to school. The only thing worth writing down is that I got tapped to run a note over to Mr. Schlesinger and his class was watching some movie. I got to sit and watch the end. Kind of depressing, almost everybody died, but I guess that how you know it's Literature. If it were fun, it wouldn't be good for you.

But anyway, the lead actress in it kind of reminded me of Aunt Petunia. I asked Mr. S who she was and he told me Merryl (Meryl? Merrill?) Streep. Funny thing is, she was the romantic interest in the movie and supposed to be beautiful. I wonder what AP would think if I told her that? Not 'til I get new trainers, I think.

Got in a good broken-field run on the way home and got grounded to my room until breakfast because The Dud (hmm, I like that, I'll have to keep it) fell and skinned his knee.

Which, since I now have tons of time, might be a good opening to describe my circumstances here. (Why bother when I already know? Because writing it down helps me think, and it'll be a reminder later if I feel like getting all nostalgic for cupboard, sweet cupboard.) You see, AP and UV mean to be a lot worse to me than they are. My bedroom for as long as I can remember has been the cupboard under the stairs. But there are shelves and a lightbulb in here (no idea why I've never had to replace it, every other light in the house blows pretty regularly) and more than enough space to stretch out and plenty of odd corners to hide stuff in. From what AP and UV say, I gather it's supposed to be dusty and manky in here. Dunno why, though. I clean the rest of the house. With all the time I spend in here, did they really think I wouldn't clean here too and make it as comfortable as possible? UV I can understand. I don't think the man thinks, and the Dud (yeah, definitely a keeper) takes after him, but AP is pretty sharp when she wants to be.

Hmm. I wonder if she knows how much I do to make my life more pleasant? I'll have to think about that a while.

Anyway, my cupboard is actually pretty cozy and stays nice and warm in the winter because the hot water pipes run up one side. My mattress isn't much, but from what I've read, lots of people all over the world sleep on worse. I have a fair number of books stashed in here, granted ones that were being thrown

away from one place or another, but still. And pens and pencils are easy to find on the floor at school, so I have lots. I've even managed to get myself a complete set of colored chalks, although it took a while. I think I appreciate my stuff more than the Dud does, cos I had to work for mine.

My most common punishment is that they lock me in here for days at a time, and don't feed me. I should be insulted. It's not like they spent money to put a decent lock on the door, it's just latched from the outside and they think I can't get out. AP sleeps with earplugs in because UV and the Dud snore loud enough I can hear them down here (when I get some, I'm putting down money with Lloyd's that the two of them die of sleep apnea before they're sixty), so once everyone's asleep, I have free run of the place. I only sneak food they won't notice being gone, like raisins and nuts and raw veg, but at least it's food, and sometimes on shopping day I manage to sneak off an entire package of something. I can wash up in the kitchen sink, too. And every morning when I'm locked in, AP lets me out to use the loo, so it's basically a weekend or so of no chores. I can live with that.

Clothes are the other big thing. They never spend money on me (I am endlessly thankful for National Health!), so I get to wear Dud's old clothes, and he's twice my size. But he's spoiled rotten and has more clothes than he can ever wear. Whenever he goes through another growth spurt, AP takes all his old clothes and makes me sort them. The like new ones go to the resale shop and I get the rest. She never seems to notice that they're all either like new or fit for the rag bag, no in between. The in between ones I stash at Mrs. Figg's in boxes marked with their sizes and they wait for me to grow into them. Next year when I'm off to Stonewall, I will never have to wear rags to school again! As it is, at least I get to wear clothes that fit when I'm visiting.

I draw the line at huge, floppy trainers, though. Bad enough Dud's feet and mine are totally different shapes. Every time I get a "new" pair of trainers, it goes on the shoe shelf, which is nice and visible from outside the cupboard, and I only wear the ones that come closest to fitting.

And now everyone's asleep, so time for dinner and clean hair. Hmm, I wonder if the fact that I wash it with dish soap is why it's so impossible?


	3. Eight June 1991

8 June 1991, Saturday

Today was brilliant. I have a new vocabulary word, doggerel, and a new favorite author, Ogden Nash. The man is hilarious.

I don't mind eels

Except as meals

And the way they feels.

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree

Indeed, until the billboards fall

I'll never see a tree at all.

Once I have space of my own, I have got to buy his books.

Yeah, today was great. First AP let me out to use the loo and then dropped me off at Mrs. Figg's. I had a late breakfast with her and the cats (who are much fonder of kippers than I am) and helped with chores all morning. We scrubbed all the litter boxes except the one behind the chair AP sits in, and brushed the cats, and she showed me the newest litter of kittens. They'll be cute in a few weeks, but now they're little meepy things. Five of them. One tuxedo, three tabby, and one an odd sort of tabby where part of the stripy bits are orange instead of brown. I think she's going to be really pretty, and Mrs. Figg figgures that she'll be able to find a really nice home for her ("at a nice price" going unmentioned). I told her my poem while we were hanging out laundry and she burst out laughing and told me to look up "doggerel" when we got to the library. Then we had baked potatoes stuffed with tuna fish and cheese for lunch and changed our clothes and headed for the library.

Mrs. Figg is funny. I change into nicer clothes to go to the library, she changes into Crazy Cat Lady clothes. "Can't let my fans down," she says, and winks at me. Her other mantra is "The truth is a wonderful and precious thing, and should never be allowed to get in the way of a good story." She tells great ones, too, all about growing up in a village in Wales that is half normal people and half magic people.

What I actually know about Mrs. Figg is that she was born in 1920 in the States, that her parents were some sort of researchers who came to Britain between the wars to do more research, that her maiden name was Arabella Marie Ambrose, and that her marriage was a bad idea (once when I was little I asked where Mr. Figg was (I'm smarter than that now, I swear!)). Oh, and that she raises and sells registered Maine Coon Cats, who are huge and fluffy and smart and some of them have thumbs.

Anyway, back to my day. We went to the library and I looked up doggerel like she said, then I spent the afternoon reading funny poems and laughing. The librarians were really nice about it. I think being a research librarian must be one of the best jobs anywhere. You get to help people find answers to stuff, which means you never have to worry about running out of things to be curious about.

I never did get around to doing Dudley's natal chart, but that just leaves me something to do for later.

Dinner was sole in some sort of cheese casserole, brown rice, carrot salad for veg and spice cake for pud, and I am spending the night because AP called and said they were running late. Tonight's story was Paddington Bear. I'm much too old to be read to, but Mrs. Figg doesn't have any children of her own, so if she wants to read to me, that's OK.

[Author note: Sorry to make you wait, I got kinda busy. I know this is short, but I liked ending on an up note. Harry's life is not generally anywhere near this happy.]


	4. Nine through Fourteen June, 1991

9 June 1991, Sunday

It was a day. Morning at Mrs. Figg's was good. Breakfast was bagels with cream cheese and lox and all the milk I could drink. I swear it's like she owns a cow, which I'm pretty sure wouldn't be allowed anywhere in greater Whinging.

Being fed is nice. I highly recommend it.

AP picked me up around ten. I spent the rest of the morning mowing the lawn. Lunch was a hardboiled egg, a handful of raisins, and water, and then I swept the driveway and washed the car. UV spent the day building something or other in the garage. I kept out of his way. Dinner was another hardboiled egg, a baked potato and some broccoli stems.

So, I have two more weeks of school left. Dud's birthday is the Sunday after school gets out, and then it's summer. Not looking forward to it.

For the rest of school, show up, do school stuff, go home, do chores, with heavy work on the weekend. Dud's birthday I'll spend with Mrs. Figg, then it'll be heavy work all summer. At least UV doesn't have me clean gutters anymore after Mr. Stewart next door complained.

My plans this summer - work hard, shut up, get the summer over with as easily as possible, and figure out how I'm going to handle schoolwork at the new school. I really need to have a plan in place before I walk in the door there. Who do I want to be at Stonewall?

One thing I don't want to be is remarkable enough in any way that anyone feels the need to send notices home. So no 100% marks on papers. No idea yet how hard that will be, though. I think I'm going to go with a gradual rise in my marks. The later years are more important than the early ones, and I definitely want to do well enough to go to Sixth Form. I may need to get emancipated to go to Sixth Form, though, which then leads to needing to figure out where to live and how to support myself. I don't need to have that all figured out by the end of the summer, but I need to at least start on my research. Wouldn't do to be caught flat-footed later. Whatever happens, I don't expect to be living here on 1 August 1998, so the sooner I have at least a few loose plans in place, the better. Seven years, one month, twenty-three days. It only sounds like forever.

I can't get to the library unless I'm with Mrs. Figg, but UV's newspapers aren't hard to get hold of. I'll just have to start reading them every day.

10 June 1991 Monday

This is bollocks. I'm only ten years old, how am I supposed to make sense of all this shite? I am so utterly buggered.

13 June 1991 Thursday

I grabbed an envelope from the trash, and I've started putting the bits in the paper I want to research in there. Only ten days to the Dud's birthday and blessed blessed library time.

School is school. Home is home, such as it is. I'm reading a water damaged copy of _The All-Of-A-Kind Family_. I wonder if New York is still like that, or if not, how much it's changed? I also wonder where I found this book. I have got to start noting that down when I add new books.

I found out that my first task for the summer is going to be scraping and repainting the shed. I can't decide what I want to say about that. For future reference, in case I forget, I am not happy. It means I'm unlikely to be grounded before its done, but it also means they'll actually be watching me, so any meals they mean me to miss will actually _be_ missed. It also means sunburn.

Sleep. I need sleep.

14 June Friday

I want to get back to trying to arrange my knowledge. I've been spending way too much time whinging. It's annoying. So, what do I know about what?

I'll start with my dad, since I know the least about him. He looked pretty much like I do, except he didn't have green eyes. He had a group of annoying immature friends. He went to the same public school my mum did. He was arrogant, careless, and thought he was funny. One of his friends dumped me on the doorstep on a November night with just a note and not having been seen by a doctor, which is evidence in favor of the "annoying, immature" part. A traffic accident where your best mate gets killed has got to be all sorts of upsetting, but I can't imagine not waiting for the ambulance, at least. Maybe they were all drunk or drugged or something and wanted to avoid the police?

My mum was ginger with green eyes. Her name was Lily Marguerite Evans, everyone thought she was really special, and Aunt Petunia was really jealous of her. Circumstantial evidence (another new vocabulary word) points to her having been privileged over AP. She also didn't have good judgement in friends. Her best friend in Junior School was a rough boy from a bad part of town, and then she met my father and his friends. I like to think that this means she was kind and tried to see the best in people. I can't think of any nice way to view my dad, though. The rough boy AP has said was so sharp he should cut himself, so probably they were friends because he was interesting to talk to. Maybe she thought my dad was fun to hang around with? Not a great reason to marry someone, but Mrs. Figg says that young girls can be very foolish in who they fancy, even if they're otherwise sensible. I'm not looking forward to that part of growing up. I should make a list now, while I still have my good sense, so I have it to look at when I turn into a teenager and get stupid. I'll do that later, though.

Other stuff I know. Mum's special school was in Scotland somewhere. Mum & AP grew up in a northern factory town. My grandparents died in a house fire before I was born, maybe because of the IRA? That doesn't seem right, but something I overheard UV say once sounded like that's what he was getting at.

Why do I actually listen to my aunt and uncle about my father and assume they're at least partly right? I know they're mean spirited people who rarely have anything nice to say about anyone (although UV likes Margaret Thatcher). But for one, that's the only data I have, for two generally AP's opinion of someone has some basis in fact, and for three, we have my dad pulling practical jokes that spoiled or nearly spoiled AP and UV's wedding.

One of my books here is The Notebooks of Lazarus Long. It's missing the cover and a bunch of pages, but most of the advice is really brilliant (someday I have to find the whole book). There's a whole bunch of it I try to live by, but these three especially:

1. "What are the facts? Again and again and again-what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history"-what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!"

2. "Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate-and quickly."

3. "A "practical joker" deserves applause for his wit according to its quality. Bastinado. For exception wit one might grant keelhauling. But staking him out on an anthill should be reserved for the very wittiest."

I know my relatives' opinions are not facts, but they're the only data I have to work with. #2 is really useful for dealing with my relatives (although I really don't care that in his own eyes, Piers is the hero of his story). And #3 isn't really so much a mantra as an opinion that isn't my aunt and uncle that my dad wasn't a nice person. I looked up bastinado a long time ago. Ow. But really, jokes are funny, but not when you're hurting other people with them. They really only work if the other people aren't really people in your eyes.

That being said, the time Tango ripped shreds off Piers when he was trying to set him on fire was very very funny and watching Piers run away any time he sees that cat is even funnier. You don't mess with Mrs. Figg's cats. Not if you value your skin. They're smarter than some people - especially the Dud and his friends.

One more quote: "A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate." Granted, civilized people don't kill people for the most part, but I'm not going to kill Piers, I'm going to work in school and make more money and have a batter life than him and someday I'll come back to Little Whinging in my awesome car and bespoke suit and that will make up for everything.


	5. Fifteen through Twenty June, 1991

**15 June 1991 Saturday**

I feel lousy today. I did all my chores and kept out of everyone's way, but I am really glad the day is over. My stomach hurts. It's probably nothing, but it's really annoying how awful "nothing" can feel.

I was all set to feel sorry for myself this evening, and then I read the news. I'm lucky all I have is a stomach ache and a bit of a sunburn. A volcano erupted in the Phillippines and they know it was bad, but they don't know how bad because there's a typhoon hitting there at the same time. They know it sent a pillar of stuff sixty kilometers into the air, though, and they know hundreds are dead, they just won't be sure how many hundreds for a while. I can't even imagine. It definitely puts my day into perspective.

**16 June 1991 Sunday**

Ugh. I was sicker than I thought. This morning I lost my breakfast all over the hallway (I was trying to get to the bathroom). I spent the rest of the day here in my cupboard - after cleaning up after myself, of course. I slept most of the day, and I am really really glad I have a couple of fizzy drink bottles full of water stored in the back corner against emergencies. I really needed them today. And I must have looked pretty awful, cos AP let me out to shower while UV and the Dud were off doing something and when I came downstairs, there was some leftover weak tea in a jam jar that AP said I could have if I wanted, and she didn't even look to make sure I tossed out the jam jar afterward, so now I have some more water too.

And now I am going back to sleep. I have got to feel better tomorrow, it's the last week of school.

**17 June Monday**

Today I was fine, must have been something I ate.

The school has a library. Duh. I looked up some stuff today, GNP (Gross National Product) and Moody's (Investment Services) and FSA (Financial Services Authority) and Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) and Pibor (Paris Interbank etc.) and stuff. It still gives me a headache. Do most grown ups understand all this? Do I need to understand all this to figure out how to support myself after my 18th birthday or I sue for emancipation? Probably not, this is large scale financial, more the sort of thing to explain why I can't find a job. I think I need to look at what industries are expected to grow in the next decade.

Does anybody besides me ever just get tired of being responsible? I don't hang out with the kids in my class, but I do listen. They seem to spend a lot more time worrying about new trainers or the newest video game to come out and I've never once heard them discuss rising or falling unemployment rates.

I've been cooking since I was five, though, so I'm head and shoulders above probably every other ten-year-old in Great Britain, and I'm only going to get more experience over the next few years. I think I'm going to start reading AP's cookbooks and see what I can learn that I haven't yet that might be useful.

OK. So that's sorted. Restaurant or cafeteria or something of that sort. Or landscaping, but that's seasonal. Experience dealing with impossible people might make me a good shop clerk, but I think I'd rather cook.

Everyone's asleep. I'm going to go nick myself a cookbook. And I have that stack of newspapers, I can also see what's in the cooking section.

**18 June Tuesday**

I screwed up my courage today and actually talked to Aunt Petunia about growing up and moving out and cooking. She says that I need to stick to what I know for breakfast, but over the summer she'll let me experiment with lunch, so long as I make sure some part of lunch is edible. Only on weekdays, though. She doesn't want UV to have to deal with poorly-made food. And she's going to let me take more of a hand in preparing supper and she even complimented my knife skills!

She didn't comment on my assumption that I was out on my ear on my eighteenth birthday, though. Oh well. Not like I was expecting different.

So now I even have permission to take a cookbook or the food section of the paper into my cupboard with me, so long as I'm careful of the cookbooks. It even sort of kind of maybe almost sounded like she might talk to UV about shorter chores lists this summer if I actually take this seriously and put some work into it and do a good job. If she can do that, it will be more than worth it.

**19 June Wednesday**

More reading of cookbooks. I think I'm going to start with white pudding. It's meat and fat, if I get it even halfway decent, Dud & UV will love it.

**20 June Thursday**

Tomorrow's the last day of school. I don't want it to be the last day of school. My stomach hurts. I wish I could slow down time.

But then, if I could slow down time, I wouldn't just need to use it to make summer come slower. If I could slow down time enough, I could actually finish one of Uncle Vernon's chore lists in a day. Then he'd be so shocked he'd have a heart attack.

And now I'm trying very hard to convince myself I don't want that to happen really. On the one hand, I'm a nice person, I don't want people to die, on the other hand, he is insured. And if he weren't around eating his head off and playing golf and buying tools he never uses, we wouldn't need as much money anyway.

Hmm, if I'm going to be a terrible person and not mind if people die, maybe I could add Aunt Marge and Piers to the list.

I am not thinking about how to get all three of them in the same place. I'm not. La la la I can't hear you, evil part of my brain.

Thinking about upcoming chores doesn't help. If I were going to be setting out annuals, that would be one thing, but scraping and painting the garage and getting more sunburned is not a good sort of distraction and it doesn't require any sort of planning.

OK, I've got a distraction. When I see Mrs. Figg on Sunday, the kittens' eyes will be open and I'll get to sit and play with them for a while. That will be fun. Maybe we can think up names. I think Toff for the tuxedo, and Marigold for the tricolor tabby, and three names that go together for the three tabbies. Hmm. Doctor, Master, and Ace? Adric, Nyssa, Teegan?

I wonder, if I had been a girl, would my name have been Sarah Jane? Harry Sullivan isn't a bad role model, certainly. He was brave and honorable and decent, and he was not either an imbecile. I can't see myself as becoming a doctor, though. Too expensive.

That would be fun, though. If I ever decide to be eccentric, I shall model myself on Harry Sullivan... Although I'll need elevator shoes and contacts. I think if I ever need to be heroic, I shall look to him, too, with maybe a bit of the last Doctor stirred in so I don't get too noble. It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion, but being a live lion is even better.

I AM HARRY, HEAR ME ROAR!

[Author's note: yes, there were in fact video games in 1991. I've played quite a few of them.

In case you'd missed it, my Harry reads a lot, as well as listening in on anything he can overhear from inside his cupboard.]


	6. Twenty-one June through One July, 1991

**21 June 1991 Friday**

Last day of school, done. Now I have the summer to deal with, then off to Stonewall. There wasn't a lot going on today, so I got to put in some more library time. I have now got my career options sorted. Cooking + the army. I can try for an army Sixth Form scholarship, and if I get it, great, and if not, I can enlist right away, cos they'll take anyone in good health over 16. So I just need to look out for my health and I should be all set. I'm used to taking orders, not asking questions, working hard, and getting yelled at. Compared to here, military life should be a doddle.

But.

Now it's summer. I hate emotions, I hate having emotions, I hate how difficult they make dealing with things, but I am sad. It was nice spending part of the day surrounded by people who don't hate me. I don't have friends at school, sure, and the teachers don't trust me, but they don't actually hate me. Outside of the Dud's gang, they ignore me, or the kids do anyway. The teachers watch me, but so long as I don't seem to be up to anything, all they do is watch. I can listen in on all the conversations around me, thousands of little things, all so terribly important and incredibly not at the same time. I don't have friends, but I do have particular friend groups I like to watch or listen to more than others. They didn't know I was listening, I know better than to get caught, but I'll miss them anyway.

Summer is just so darned lonely. I get up, I make breakfast, I get my list of chores, and I work. The I give UV the list at the end of the day, he checks and finds things wrong with what I did, and he yells at me and sends me to bed without supper. Then once everyone's asleep, I sneak out, wash, and nick a few things, then I sleep and do it all over again, and again, and again, and again. I am really glad I at least have my notebook now, because it's kind of like having someone to talk to. I wonder if by the end of the summer I will be imagining it talks back? Maybe I could use a different color pen, write with my left hand, and have conversations with myself. If I'm not too tired to write that is.

**22 June, Saturday**

Bloody hell, what is it, any time I get to feeling really sorry for myself, another volcano blows up in the Philippines? An underwater one this time. Yes, I get it, the world is full of people much worse off that I am. I am ten years old in a wealthy country. I just have to get my childhood over with and then I have nearly unlimited possibilities. I could become a military officer, even.

Wouldn't it be cool if there really was a UNIT? Lt. Harry Potter, Royal Navy, seconded to UNIT. I'm straightening my spine just thinking about it.

Five years, one month, nine days until I turn sixteen. That takes a whole two years off my sentence! I think I can live with missing Sixth Form if it gets me out of here for good and ever.

So I'm going to stop feeling sorry for myself, and horrible things are going to stop happening in the Philippines, OK world? Do we have a deal? Good. I'm going to hold you to that.

**23 June Sunday** Happy bloody birthday to Dudley

I have to wonder about people who say "Things can't get any worse." It's like they're challenging the universe and they don't realize that the universe is bigger, meaner, and far more inventive than they will ever be. I can definitely think of ways today could have been worse, and I'm quite glad it wasn't.

The only way I'm going to have enough hands for this is if I'm an octopus, so here goes.

On the one tentacle, Mrs. Figg broke her leg this morning, so I couldn't stay with her and see the new kittens or spend the afternoon in the library. On the other tentacle, that meant AP & UV were stuck taking me with them to the zoo, and I've never been to the zoo before and quite a few of the animals were brilliant. But on the other tentacle, the Dud and Piers did not want me there at all. And then on the other tentacle (I think I'm up to four now), AP got shamed into buying me a lemon ice pop at the ice cream stand, and I got to finish the Dud's huge sundae when he pitched a fit that it wasn't big enough so UV bought him a new one. But on the fifth tentacle, I don't think the ice cream quite agreed with me, and then on the sixth tentacle... Erm. Well.

I haven't had anything seriously freaky happen around me in a while. There was the time a couple of years ago when AP shaved all of my head except my fringe and the next morning all of my hair had grown back. And there was the time that I jumped onto the school roof when running away from Dud and friends. And there's been other stuff, but today I talked to a snake!

We were in the reptile house and Dud was being a stupid idiot as usual. I was feeling sorry for the snake having to put up with all that and then suddenly it was talking back to me. And then Piers and Dud shoved up against the glass to get a better look and it disappeared and they fell in the snake's den and they had screaming fits and the snake escaped and Piers and Dud told UV that I was talking to the snake and now I am in my cupboard and I have no idea when I'm going to get out.

I am not sorry for myself. Not at all. It is completely unfair, but life isn't fair and at least I have plenty in here to keep me busy. I think I'll try to read _The Lord of the Rings_. Last time I tried I was too young for it, but that was last summer and I'm older now.

I am very very glad that I've been keeping my bottles and jars of water full in here and I have a couple of packages of digestives. And I have my books and my chalks and I can always nap during the hot part of the day and stay up after everyone goes to sleep.

**24 June Monday**

Good thing I used the loo last night, cos AP didn't let me out this morning.

_Lord of the Rings_ is interesting, but I wish I had a dictionary.

**25 June Tuesday**

Still not out. Rather warm. I've taken up sleeping in the heat of the day. It's late now and a bit cooler and I've been to the loo and washed up in the kitchen sink and wiped it down and foraged for a bit to eat. I'm taking a double handful of raisins into the cupboard with me to help stretch the digestives a bit.

**26 June Wednesday**

I miss newspapers. I'd gotten used to knowing what was going on in the world.

**27 June Thursday**

I finished _Lord of the Rings_ and went back and reread some of the harder bits. The appendixes are neat. I wonder if I could make up something anywhere near that interesting.

I wonder, which of the people would I want to be? Being a hobbit sounds really comfortable. Gondor seems a bit too posh, but I liked the Riders of Rohan. I'd love to study in Gandalf's library, too, and the eagles were grand. Not an elf, though. They spend too much time watching and pondering and considering. Thinking before you act is good, but I want to do things.

The dwarves make things. Do I want to make things? Dunno, I'll have to think about it. Maybe next year in school I can take a shop class.

I think when I get back to the library, I am going to learn runes. It should be fun.

**28 June Friday**

Still here. Rainy today. Dud's broken a bunch of his birthday presents already, and he's sulking cos none of his friends can come over and he's bored. I am being really childish and making faces at him from in here.

I am not bored, I am not sorry for myself, I am not complaining. I am going to spend the afternoon decorating every surface in here with Rohan poetry and pictures of horses and falcons and waving grass.

**29 June Saturday**

AP and UV were talking about whether I can come out yet. UV says he doesn't want to see me at all for a while, so I can come out tomorrow while he's off golfing and then Monday I can start on the shed. I have continued to do my big mural of horses on the plains. I think it looks pretty good.

**30 June Sunday**

I got out today and AP sent me upstairs to shower cos she said I smelled. Then I spent the afternoon working with her in the kitchen. She showed me how to separate eggs and we made an angel cake.

**1 July 1991, Monday morning**

I just finished making breakfast and now I'm back in my cupboard until UV goes to work. I have some toast.

**Evening**

I am stiff, sore, sunburned, and filthy. I don't ever want to move again, but I am going to get up and at least wash my hands and face. Tomorrow AP is taking Dud out shopping again, so I'll be getting to spend the day with Mrs. Figg. I wonder if the kittens are climbing out of the box yet?

[AN: Sorry for the delay, no good excuse, I was just lazy. Not so much writer's block as far too many ideas for the train ride and not so many for this. I'll probably come back and rewrite this chapter at some point, as I'm not terribly pleased with it. It covers what it's meant to cover and I do think it's right for what my Harry would have to say about it all, but it feels a little dull. Things will definitely pick up once the letters start coming.]


	7. Two July, 1991

[AN: One of my aims for this story was to avoid dialing the abuse up to eleven. I didn't quite do that, but the impossible lists of chores did not exist in the summer before his first year, so I'm feeling like this was a major screwup on my part. Would it bother any of you if I went back and edited the offending chapters?]

**2 July 1991, Tuesday**

Runes are brilliant. They're not just letters, they all have names, and each one means something. There's no Y in runes, so "Harry" is Hagalaz/hail, Ansuz/god, Raidho/riding doubled, Isa/ice. "Harold" is Hagalaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Othila/inherited land, Laguz/water, Dagaz/day. "Potter" is Perthro/luck, Othila, Teiwaz/the god Tyr doubled, Ehwaz/horse, Raidho. I am going to start signing all my school papers "Harold" from now on. Unfortunate beginnings, divine intervention, a long journey, and stagnation isn't that attractive. The same bad start and divine intervention with a shorter journey to inherited land by the water and a new beginning sounds a lot better.

I copied down the rune poem so I could use it later:

_Fehu_/Wealth

source of discord among kinsmen

and fire of the sea

and path of the serpent.

_Uruz_/Shower

lamentation of the clouds

and ruin of the hay-harvest

and abomination of the shepherd.

_Thurisaz_/Giant

torture of women

and cliff-dweller

and husband of a giantess.

_Ansuz_/God

aged Gautr

and prince of Ásgarðr

and lord of Vallhalla.

_Raidho_/Riding

joy of the horsemen

and speedy journey

and toil of the steed.

_Kaunaz_/Ulcer

disease fatal to children

and painful spot

and abode of mortification.

_Hagalaz_/Hail

cold grain

and shower of sleet

and sickness of serpents.

_Nauthiz_/Constraint

grief of the bond-maid

and state of oppression

and toilsome work.

_Isa_/Ice

bark of rivers

and roof of the wave

and destruction of the doomed.

_Jera_/Plenty

boon to men

and good summer

and thriving crops.

_Sowilo_/Sun

shield of the clouds

and shining ray

and destroyer of ice.

_Teiwaz_/Týr

god with one hand

and leavings of the wolf

and prince of temples.

_Berkana_/Birch

leafy twig

and little tree

and fresh young shrub.

_Mannaz_/Man

delight of man

and augmentation of the earth

and adorner of ships.

_Laguz_/Water

eddying stream

and broad geysir

and land of the fish.

?/Yew

bent bow

and brittle iron

and giant of the arrow.

It's really interesting that the runes in the poem and the runes in the list aren't the same. The Anglo-Saxon poem is newer, but it has more runes:

_Feoh_/Wealth is a comfort to all men;

yet must every man bestow it freely,

if he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord.

_Ur_/The aurochs is proud and has great horns;

it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns;

a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.

_Thorn_/The thorn is exceedingly sharp,

an evil thing for any knight to touch,

uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.

_Os_/The mouth is the source of all language,

a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men,

a blessing and a joy to every knight.

_Rad_/Riding seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors

and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads

on the back of a stout horse.

_Ken_/The torch is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame;

it always burns where princes sit within.

_Gyfu_/Generosity brings credit and honour, which support one's dignity;

it furnishes help and subsistence

to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.

_Wynn_/Bliss he enjoys who knows not suffering, sorrow nor anxiety,

and has prosperity and happiness and a good enough house.

_Haegl_/Hail is the whitest of grain;

it is whirled from the vault of heaven

and is tossed about by gusts of wind

and then it melts into water.

_Nyd_/Trouble is oppressive to the heart;

yet often it proves a source of help and salvation

to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.

_Is_/Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery;

it glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems;

it is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon.

_Jer_/Summer is a joy to men, when God, the holy King of Heaven,

suffers the earth to bring forth shining fruits

for rich and poor alike.

_Eoh_/The yew is a tree with rough bark,

hard and fast in the earth, supported by its roots,

a guardian of flame and a joy upon an estate.

_Peorth_ is a source of recreation and amusement to the great,

where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall.

The _Eolh_-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;

it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,

covering with blood every warrior who touches it.

_Sigel_/The sun is ever a joy in the hopes of seafarers

when they journey away over the fishes' bath,

until the courser of the deep bears them to land.

_Tiw_ is a guiding star; well does it keep faith with princes;

it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.

_Beorc_/The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers,

for it is generated from its leaves.

Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned

its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.

_Eh_/The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.

A steed in the pride of its hoofs,

when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;

and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.

_Man_/The joyous man is dear to his kinsmen;

yet every man is doomed to fail his fellow,

since the Lord by his decree will commit the vile carrion to the earth.

_Lagu_/The ocean seems interminable to men,

if they venture on the rolling bark

and the waves of the sea terrify them

and the courser of the deep heed not its bridle.

_Ing_ was first seen by men among the East-Danes,

till, followed by his chariot,

he departed eastwards over the waves.

So the Heardingas named the hero.

_Ethel_/An estate is very dear to every man,

if he can enjoy there in his house

whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity.

_Daeg_/Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord;

it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor,

and of service to all.

_Ac_/The oak fattens the flesh of pigs for the children of men.

Often it traverses the gannet's bath,

and the ocean proves whether the oak keeps faith

in honourable fashion.

_Aesc_/The ash is exceedingly high and precious to men.

With its sturdy trunk it offers a stubborn resistance,

though attacked by many a man.

_Yr_ is a source of joy and honour to every prince and knight;

it looks well on a horse and is a reliable equipment for a journey.

_Iar_ is a river fish and yet it always feeds on land;

it has a fair abode encompassed by water, where it lives in happiness.

_Ear_/The grave is horrible to every knight,

when the corpse quickly begins to cool

and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth.

Prosperity declines, happiness passes away

and covenants are broken.

So how do they know peorth is luck? Also, my scar looks just like Sowilo/Sigel. How cool is that?

I looked up Tyr, too, since he comes up twice in my last name, and because "the leavings of the wolf" doesn't sound very good. Turns out he was the god of courage and honor, and the Anglo-Saxon poem makes it sound like he was related to the North Star somehow. He has one hand because Fenris bit it off.

There was more about my day, but copying my library notes took a while and I need sleep.

Harold Potter

Harold Potter

Harold Potter

Practicing signing my name.


	8. Eighteen through Twenty July 1991

**18 July 1991 Thursday**

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. I knew it had been a while, but it's been over two weeks! Oops.

So, erm, what have I been doing the last two weeks? First off, Piers got a new Sega Genesis and a bunch of new games for it, so Dud's been over there for most of his waking hours and when he's not there, all he talks about is Sonic the Hedgehog and if AP & UV will buy him a Super NES when they come out even though it will be long after his birthday so he'll have a newer and better system than Piers. With the Dud out of the way, AP has been teaching me a lot of cooking and I'm making just about all the lunches now. And I'm eating a lot better because AP says that a cook has to taste things as they're cooking and know what things are supposed to taste like, otherwise nothing will come out right, and there's no point in spending good money on good ingredients if you're just going to ruin them. It's been a lot of fun, because I've gotten to taste things I've never tasted before and AP also had me burn a couple of things on purpose so I'd know what they smelled and tasted like "for future reference". Burned garlic is nasty! And beetroot is fairly disgusting even when not burnt, but I've learned to do a number of things with it anyway. AP says my beet root coleslaw is quite passable.

I've also learned to make mayonnaise and some of the other classic sauces from scratch. If this keeps up, I'm going to have amazing forearms from all this egg whipping. Saturday at dinner, I overheard UV complimenting AP on some of the dishes that I had actually made, so I know I'm learning. And any time I do anything well enough that UV notices, AP makes sure there are a few leftovers for me for later.

But anyway, the reason I sat down to write was that something interesting happened today. My birthday is in a couple of weeks, and Mrs. Figg always sends me a postcard or something a week or two before. At first they were from real places like Stonehenge or the Salem Witch Museum over in the States (Mrs. Figg's favorite niece lives near there), but then she started sending me these brilliant fake postcards from some of the places in her stories, like Godric's Hollow and Hogsmeade) and last year her niece took a laminated picture of me that they called "Flat Harry" along when she and her family went on vacation, and they took pictures of Flat Harry at a bunch of lighthouses on the coast of Maine and near a tower on the tip of Cape Cod and on a carousel by a beach in Massachusetts and next to a giant bluefish her husband caught and all sorts of stuff, with a map with numbers on it to show where all the pictures were taken. That last one didn't come in the mail, though, cos it was too big. Mrs. Figg gave it to me while I was visiting and I keep most of it there. I have one picture that her niece took of her daughter holding Flat Harry so he/I was riding their dog that I think is really funny and she sent duplicates so I have one at home. The dog is a Schipperke, and I have decided that is my favorite sort of dog. His name is Sgt. Pepper. The niece and her husband are Evelyn and Bill Davenport and her daughter is Jamie.

Anyway, she warned me to keep an eye on the mail when I saw her on the first, so I have been, and today I got a wicked cool letter, that says I've been accepted to Mrs. Figg's pretend wizard school. I walked over to her house after breakfast and told her, and she had me write a letter of acceptance and said she'd owl it right out. Mrs. Figg is the greatest, I swear. I wonder how much of it she has planned out. I can't wait to see.

**19 July Thursday**

Today was a day. I made scones and chicken salad. Nothing further from Mrs. Figg, but if I knew what to expect and when, it wouldn't be half as much fun.

I think I like chicken salad with grapes better than with cranberries.

**20 July Friday**

Wow. Just wow. It wasn't a joke after all. I'm a wizard.

It was morning. I was helping clear up breakfast. UV was already off to work and Dud off to Piers' and someone knocked on the door. I heard AP arguing with whoever it was and then she called me in from the kitchen. There was a tall woman who looked like the scary kind of librarian in the front hallway, looking around her like she didn't really approve.

"Go change out of you work clothes, Harry. You're going out with Professor McGonnagle for the day."

I hurried and put on the best clothes I could find, which weren't much. I was really curious what this was all about.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. I am Professor McGonnagle, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Oh! Are you a friend of Mrs. Figg's? She said she'd owl my response for me, but I didn't expect to hear back so soon. This is brilliant. Where are we going?"

I swear to whatever I thought she was a friend of Mrs. Figg's who was going along with the joke! I mean, really, if I'd known she was a real professor, I would have been more respectful. I think I actually asked a dozen or so questions in a minute or two, and I didn't stop until she put up her hand.

"Mr. Potter, if you will take my arm and hang on, that should answer a few of your questions."

So I did, of course. I felt this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach and suddenly we were somewhere else. It was a busy bustling street, with all sorts of odd people in odder clothing rushing about. After I picked myself up off the ground, I just stood and stared at the professor until she suggested I shut my mouth before I started attracting flies.

I'm pretty sure after that I started babbling, because my memory of that conversation is a bit blurry. But. Magic. It's real, and that's how we got to Diagonal Alley (which was where we were) and Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow are real too and I was BORN in Godric's Hollow and I lived there with my parents.

We didn't have that whole conversation right there and then, though. Professor McGonnagle figured out pretty fast that I was starting to freak out and she took me to a little pub where we got a small private room and she got me tea and scones and we sat and talked.

My parents were wizards. There was a war on, against this National Front type who called himself Lord Voldemort, and my parents were part of the group who were fighting against them. My father was apparently someone important and the bad guys were mad at him for not joining their side, and even madder at him for marrying my mom.

And that's a whole other thing. People with magic call people without magic "muggles" and don't know much about us - or them, I guess, since I'm supposed to be a wizard. They don't know how electricity or cars work or go to movies or watch telly or anything. And people with magic are only supposed to marry other people with magic, at least so far as the NLF-types think, and it really offends them that people without magic sometimes have magical children. My mother was one of those. My grandparents didn't have magic, and AP doesn't, but my mother did, and she went to Hogwarts and met my father there.

My dad really was an arrogant, irresponsible berk, though. I asked the professor, and she paused and said that he was always a very charming and intelligent young man, and he got much more sensible as he got older. Doesn't take a genius to work out what that means.

Once I got calmed down, the professor took me shopping for all my school supplies. We started with a trunk and a school bag, so we could put our other purchases in them, and she explained to me about shrinking and weightlessness charms. After that, we went to Madame Malkin's for clothes, which took bloody forever. I needed school robes, of course, but she said that wizarding fashions were very different from non magical ones, so I needed to get clothes beyond just my uniform. I was worried about who was going to pay for all this (I probably should have thought about that when we were getting my trunk, but I was still trying to take it all in then), but she told me that my parents had left money to see me through school, and that making sure I was properly dressed was part of what the money was for, so I just let it drop and stuck to telling Madame Malkin what my favorite colors are and which fabrics I preferred. Just about the time I was thinking I would grow old and die in there, the professor declared us done and that it was time to pick up potions supplies.

The apothecary was gross but fun. I got all the stuff I needed, plus a Beginner's Guide to Ingredient Preparation and extras of some of the more common ingredients just in case, then we picked up my telescope and a really neat thing called an astrolabe, which she said I wouldn't need quite yet, but with my interests I ought to find it useful.

And then we went to the bookstore.

Wow. Wow wow wow. So many cool books. Books on runes. Books on astrology. Books on wizarding customs and history and etiquette and even cookery! Books on how to talk to mermaids and how to make friends with unicorns. Books on how to do magical art and music and even magical embroidery. I ended up getting all my textbooks, plus a copy of the 1914 edition of _Hogwarts, a History_ (Professor McGonnagle said the later versions had some rather unfortunate changes made to them, and the 1980 version was definitely the worst), a book on wizarding customs and etiquette, a book on the history and alliances of the major wizarding families over the last three centuries (and she warned me that wizards live to be quite old, so it was quite possible I might meet people who remembered the American Revolution as a bit of unpleasantness from their childhoods), three different books on runes, one primer on writing with a quill, and one big thick book an astrology. The professor warned me that she didn't put a lot of stock in it herself, although I might find some aspects interesting to discuss with Professor Sprout, but since I'd already made a study of it, I ought to have a good source on it from the wizarding perspective, so I could compare and contrast.

I could have spent forever in there. The last thing I bought there was a new journal, cordovan with gold tooling and a privacy spell so that only I could read it.

After that, we went for my wand. That was creepy. The whole time we were shopping, the professor referred to me as "Mr. Evans" and I wore a hat to cover up my scar, but Mr. Ollivander recognized me anyway, and told me about my parents' wands. It seemed like I tried every wand in the place, and after all that I ended up with a wand with the same core as the man who murdered my parents. Seems I'm destined for great things. Oh joy.

Our last four stops were an oculist for new glasses (I picked a nice light pewter frame and it and the lenses were charmed unbreakable and unsummonable), Gambol and Japes for a few games to play with my friends once I had made some, Eeylops' Owl Emporium where we met up with Mr. Hagrid, a giant man who is the school groundskeeper and knew me when I was a baby and who bought me the most beautiful owl anywhere (I named her Hedwig, out of one of the books I read at the bookstore), and then back to Madame Malkin's to drop off my trunk. The professor said once my clothes were ready, the whole thing would be waiting for me at the train station. All I brought home with me were my new books and some parchment, quills, and ink in my new book bag.

The day wasn't done being weird yet, though. When I came in the front door, AP sent me upstairs to my room, with a look that said I'd better not act like anything was off. When I got upstairs, Dudley's toy room was mostly cleared out of his stuff, and I had a bed, wardrobe, and desk of my own. And then I got to sit at the table and eat with the family.

After dinner, AP told me to clear all my stuff out of the closet and get settled in my new room, and Dudley didn't say a word. So now I'm all moved in and trying to be comfortable and I feel like I may never sleep again. I keep trying to think and I don't know what to think.

I think I'm going to reread my runes and my horoscope and then try to sleep.


	9. Twenty-one July, 1991

**21 July 1991 Saturday**

It's a Saturday and I have no chores to do. UV is off playing golf with some clients, the Dud is off with Piers again, and AP told me to tidy up my new room and throw out any trash, and she told me if I found anything in here that could be considered school supplies I might as well keep them. And she told me I have all weekend to do it and she'll be checking Sunday evening before dinner to make sure the room is presentable.

I wonder if they think the wizards will be checking up on me? The letter was addressed to me in the cupboard under the stairs, but they never saw it. Strange.

Anyway, I reread my journal last night. I need to rethink a lot of what I know. Did Death Eaters burn down my grandparents Evans' house? Was my dad the kind of jerk that he was because he was upper-class? I was still left on a doorstep with nothing but a note and not having been seen by a doctor. Why?

Nothing I knew about my mum seems to have changed, just I add in that she was a witch, and apparently a really smart and talented one and something she did is why I'm not dead too.

Which leads to this whole Boy-Who-Lived business. I think they ought to be honoring my mother, not me. But my mother is one of those people that the BNP types think shouldn't have magic, while I'm the last son of the Potters (have to look up what that means), so I guess it's politically easier to have me be the hero, even if I was a toddler at the time and it's completely ridiculous.

It's disturbing that the BNP types are so important in the wizarding world. Out here, they're a bunch of repulsive loonies. Scary repulsive loonies, but nobody anyone has to take seriously when they're not actually rioting. In there, it looks like they're close to running things. I think I may stick with my plan to join the army when I come of age. At least there discrimination is illegal.

I'll wait until I go to school and learn something before making up my mind, though. And now I am going to bag up some trash.

21 July again, after dinner

I got to eat at the table again. I like roast chicken. Mushy peas are nasty, though.

I tossed out bags and bags of broken stuff and dusted and wiped down shelves. I found some art supplies and a couple of really nice Biros, as well as a silver fountain pen still in its case. I brought that down to AP as soon as I found it cos it looked valuable. AP just took it and stood and held it for a long time and stared into space and then finally set it down and said that I never gave it to her, she never saw it, and get back to work. I think this is the second most beautiful thing I own, right after Hedwig. (I put it away in my school bag.)

The room is almost presentable now. AP picked up some bedding for me at a charity shop, so I have two sets of sheets and a duvet, and she also got me a little table lamp. Big pink roses aren't my favorite, but it lights up, so I'm not complaining.

So now I want to get down various stuff I noticed in Diagon Alley, while I can still remember. It seemed really busy to me, but the professor said this was nothing, next month at this time it would be packed with kids and parents. I asked if this was the only place to school shopping and she said that showed good thinking and no it isn't, but it is the most popular and a lot of people like to go here to meet up with friends and to see who else they run into.

I kept my eye out for other kids my age, and kids in general, while we were out and about. There was a beautiful black girl at the bookstore who the professor greeted as Miss Jones. She was definitely older, and the professor said she'd be one of the Slytherin prefects this year. There was a boy who looked like my age at Madame Malkin's. His father, whom the professor greeted as Lord Nott, looked like the picture for the dictionary definition of "austere", all in grey with a few touches of white (most people in the alley were much more colorful). The father left, after telling the son to behave, but Madame Malkin kept me so busy that all we could do was nod at each other. There was a pair of Asian girls who looked to be my age just coming out of Madame Malkin's the second time we went there, and I saw an Oriental girl in the distance at the bookstore. There were lots of kids in Gambol and Japes, but that's the problem - there were so many it was hard to pick out anyone in particular.

It was interesting, though. The BNP doesn't like people to be not white and they definitely don't like Asians. The wizards don't seem to care about color, just who your grandparents are, which is something you can't tell by looking at someone. I wondered about that, but it seems like most of the kids from the old families know each other or at least know of each other, and a lot of them are related, at least distantly. The professor said my paternal grandmother was a Black, and the Blacks are related to everyone, so I should find I have a fair number of distant relations at school. There aren't any Blacks left, but Grandmother's mother was a Bulstrode and there's a Bulstrode girl in my class. She told me to look at the family trees in my book, because on the train a lot of kids will be playing "wizarding geography" to figure out their connections to each other. I think I'm looking forward to that part. All I had for family before was AP, UV, and the Dud.

She also told me about the houses. Griffindors are brave, but not known for their intelligence or subtlety. Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking and reliable, but unkind people refer to them as the House of Leftovers. Ravenclaws are intellectual and good students, but not always the most practical. Slytherins are cunning and ambitious, but the house has a bad reputation because Voldemort came from it, and a lot of his known followers as well. She told me that this was unfair, though, as there were Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws among the Deatheaters, and some of them very highly placed. "No Griffindors?" I asked, but she said that while she didn't know any Griffindor Deatheaters, over half of Grindelwald's British followers were Griffindors, and no house gets a free pass on being light or dark.

She also told me that houses tend to run in families and everyone would say that their house was best. My parents were both Griffindors, but my mother almost ended up in Ravenclaw, and her best friend was in Slytherin and she had a couple of girlfriends in Hufflepuff as well. (My father only associated with Griffindors.). I pressed her on which house she thought was best, and she told me that she was the Head of House for Griffindor, so she was obviously biased.

I'm pondering the houses. Slytherin and Griffindor both seem a bit polarizing. Ravenclaw could be good, but I like practical. Hufflepuff could be good. I know how to work hard, I like the idea of loyalty, and Professor Sprout sounds nice. If I'm a Hufflepuff, people will think I'm a duffer, if I'm a Griffindor, nobody in Slytherin will like me, if I'm a Slytherin, nobody in Griffindor will like me, and if I'm a Ravenclaw I will probably want to punch my housemates in the head. No clear winner or loser. I guess I'll just wait and see.


	10. Twenty-two and Twenty-three July, 1991

**22 July 1991 Sunday**

Wow, family trees are confusing. But I worked out a couple of things. First, my grandmother's older sister is still alive! And so is Arcturus Black, who is her cousin and Lord Black. Tomorrow I am going to go see Mrs. Figg to talk about this and see if I can send an owl to Cassiopeia Black. Granted, she's really old, but I have another aunt! Wicked!

I also have two cousins who show up on the Black family tree who will be at Hogwarts: Nymphadora Tonks and Draco Malfoy, and Draco is even my age. On other family trees that the Blacks connect to I've got Bulstrodes (Millicent and Matthew), Crabbes (Vincent), Macmillans (Honoria and Ernest), Longbottoms (Neville), Weasleys (Percival, Frederic, George, Ronald and Ginevra), and Flints (Marcus and Julia). Draco, Millicent, Vincent, Ernest, Neville, and Ronald will all be in my class! Cousins! I have more cousins! Granted, I've got the Dud as an example that this isn't always a good thing, but surely at least one of them will be nice. Oh, and my Potter great-grandmother was an Abbott, and Hannah Abbott will be in my class as well. My Potter great-great grandmother was a Longbottom, which is another tie to Neville. Of the others, Nymphadora, Honoria, Percival, Frederic, George, Marcus, and Julia are all older, and Matthew and Ginevra are younger. So while I don't know any of these people, I at least know some names to look for on the train.

Another thing I noticed: wizards don't seem to have many kids. One set of Weasleys has a huge family, but most families have only two kids, and there are an awful lot of only children. The Potters, Longbottoms, and Malfoys seem especially bad at that. Kill off me, Neville, and Draco and that's it, three lines done. I bet those guys' parents are going to be bugging them for grandkids in the worst way. And the House of Black had all these branches and now there's only Sirius left, and the book says his status is questionable. Hmm. I wonder if that means I need an heir? I wonder who I ask about that?

I also found a list of the Sacred Twenty-eight (gag!), who were, according to one twit with a stick up his arse, the only truly pure blooded families left in the 1930s. The Potters aren't on it, see me crying over that. And there's also a list of Noble and Most Ancient houses, vs. the ones that are only Ancient. Some of the Sacred 28 aren't on either list, and there are quite a few families on both lists that are apparently quite profane for all their ancientness and nobleness.

There are only a dozenish Noble and Most Ancient Houses left, so they're easy to list: Abbott, Black, Bones, Burke, Gamp, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillan, Nott, Patil, Potter, Rosier, Selwyn. The book says the defunct houses could be brought back if a descendant from a squib line passed an official heritage test at Gringotts, though. I wonder how much the test costs? It would be fun to get all the muggleborn students to go down en masse to take it.

Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Daphne Greengrass, Neville Longbottom, Ernest Macmillan, Theodore Nott, Padma and Parvati Patil (I bet they were the Asian girls I saw at Madame Malkin's), and I will all be in the same class. I think I need to read the etiquette book next.

And speaking of that, I need to finish up organizing my room.

**22 July later**

My room is clean, scrubbed and organized. My desk is all set up so I can study and maybe do some practice exercises. I am showered (an actual shower! With warm water!) and I am going to sleep now.

**23 July 1991 Monday**

Today did NOT go as planned. Another professor called by in the morning after breakfast, a tall, dark, scary one with long hair and with a serious chip on his shoulder. Turns out he & AP knew each other, and not only that, he was the rough boy who was my mother's best friend in Junior school! No one ever mentioned that he was magical!

Anyway, his name was Professor Severus Snape and he was here to take me to do some normal shopping, although he obviously didn't want to. He insisted on going up to my room first off to see what books I had so he'd know what we needed to pick up, and he wasn't impressed with my book collection. He thought _I_ spilled things on them and tore them up and stuff and I told him I _rescued_ them.

He didn't believe me and thought I was some sort of spoiled brat and just like my father. I said that it was my first goal in life NOT to be, thank you very much, from everything I've ever heard about him, even the people who were trying to say nice things about him said he was the worst sort of posh twit and that I didn't even find out about the whole Noble and Most Ancient House thing until last night, and I still don't know what it means. He said something sarky about the Boy-Who-Lived and I said that was just stupid, it wasn't anything I did, it was something my mother did and if the wizarding world wasn't a bunch of prejudiced ars... idiots, they'd admit it and celebrate Lily Evans Potter as the Mother-Who-Avenged instead.

Then we stood there and glared at each other and breathed for a bit, and he said, "Well, we shall just see then," and noted that we didn't have all day, so if I wanted to round out my library and pick up some decent muggle clothes, we had best be going.

The rest of the day wasn't too bad. We were very formal with each other and he wasn't too insulting. He found out that I hadn't been to Gringotts yet, so we went there first. I got to see my vault and he explained how wizard money works and I think he started believing me about the spoiledness bit when he saw my reaction to my vault. Piles of real gold! I'm still boggled by it. I was a little worried about how little I know about money and investments, but Professor Snape told me to make an appointment with the goblins for next week and he was _sure_ that Professor McGonnagle would be _more_ than happy to escort me here. The way he said it, I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't, actually, and that this was revenge, but I played dumb and went along with it, and I am due back on my birthday at 0930.

After that we went to the Army and Navy store and I got some jeans and some khakis and a pair of trainers and a pair of black loafers and I also picked up a football and useful bathroom stuff and I tried to grab a bottle of hair bleach without him noticing but he saw. He asked what in the world I wanted with that and I told him right out, so I could dye my hair and not look like my father anymore so I wouldn't remind people of him. He looked at me like he was trying to read my mind for a while and then said that there was no need, when my new glasses came in, they would probably make a big difference and that I move more like my mother. I have to think about that, I think.

Anyway, after that we went to an absolutely brilliant bookstore. I got a regular dictionary and a Latin/English dictionary and a bunch of different colored highlighters (the professor says the wizarding world hasn't heard of them yet) and an ephemeris (because they're cheaper here) and I even found a complete works of Ogden Nash and _The Notebooks of Lazarus Long_! I told the professor that this was my favorite book ever and full of words to live by and he flipped through it and actually smiled a bit as he read it. It was a "this is going to be trouble and I can't wait" smile, which is something else I have to think about. He asked me if I believed all of it and I said I thought so, but some of the stuff he said about girls I have to reserve judgement on. He nodded and let me add it to my pile, but he said he thought the Complete Works was a bit dear and made me put it back. He did let me get one of his books, though, so I picked out _The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash_. He also suggested a calligraphy workbook, so I got that as well. When we got back, he told me to be sure to read the first three chapters of _Magical Drafts and Potions _before the first day of classes and that was that. AP scolded me a bit for being late for dinner (!) and had me put my things away quickly and come sit down. She and Professor Snape sneered at each other and then he left.

Did I already write that I think AP thinks the wizards are checking up on her? Well, she definitely thinks that now. She isn't treating me like Dudley but it's still pretty boggling. (UV mostly isn't saying anything.) There was even a rug and some curtains in my room when I went up to put my stuff away. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs and a green salad with lemon tarts for pud, and I got some of all of it. I cleared the table afterwards anyway, though, because it would have felt strange not to and cos sooner or later things are going to go back to more like normal, and the less I take advantage, the better.

I took the professor's advice and read the first chapter of my potions text. It was interesting and I have started to put my highlighters to use. Tomorrow I will go see Mrs. Figg.


	11. Twenty-four July, 1991

**24 July 1991 Tuesday**

Today AP went out to get her hair done and stuff, so I spent the day with Mrs. Figg, although I think it's more that I wanted to come here anyway, so AP figured she deserved some me time.

I decided to ask her to fill in some details about what I wrote before, which was: "What I actually know about Mrs. Figg is that she was born in 1920 in the States, that her parents were some sort of researchers who came to Britain between the wars to do more research, that her maiden name was Arabella Marie Ambrose, and that her marriage was a bad idea (once when I was little I asked where Mr. Figg was (I'm smarter than that now, I swear!)). Oh, and that she raises and sells registered Maine Coon Cats, who are huge and fluffy and smart and some of them have thumbs. "

Born in 1920 in the states is correct. Her parents were both magical, as are her sister and brother. Her parents research (they're still alive in the US!) wizarding heredity and genetics. Their theory is that there's actually no such thing as a non-magical human being, just varying levels of ability to use it consciously.

She did in fact grow up in Godric's Hollow where I was born, although by then she was living in London, and she knew my grandparents! She and my grandmother were the same age, even. My grandfather was a lot older and his parents had given up on him ever getting married, so when he agreed to marry Dorea Black, they had a huge wedding and threw two receptions so everyone living in Godric's Hollow could drink to them, even the non-magical people. Mrs. Figg says the grandmother Dorea is where I get my unmanageable black hair from (Grandfather Charlus was kind of blond), only on her it was long and thick and wavy and she had a lot of fun braiding it in all sorts of symbolic shapes (it's to do with runes and arithmancy and magical threadwork, which they don't teach at Hogwarts; more on that later). She had a wicked sense of humor and she used to paint funny magical paintings and she was also fascinated with silent films, and collected them. (Mrs. Figg thinks her collection is probably in the family vault.) She wasn't very healthy, though, and she had trouble staying pregnant. She had to stay in bed the whole time she was pregnant with my father, and all the families in Godric's Hollow sent meals over and came to keep her company at one time or another. She was only 57 when she died of "female troubles" (Mrs. Figg said I wasn't old enough for any more explanation than that and I don't think I want one) and my grandfather died less than six months later.

She also said that my father was the spoiled brat that he was because my grandparents didn't expect to be able to have any children at all, and my great-grandparents had totally given up on grandchildren, so as far as they were concerned, he was the handsomest, most charming, and smartest baby and little boy ever, and they had enough money to make sure he had the best of everything. Mrs. Figg says she remembers my father was really softhearted when it came to injured animals, but not so good with people. Also, my dad never had babysitters and his parents homeschooled him until he went to Hogwarts. (I think I am really glad I am not going to school with him.)

Mrs. Figg didn't go to Hogwarts because she's a squib, which is a person with magical parents who can't use magic. Her parents left Britain before the Voldemort War because things were getting ugly and their research was getting dangerous, not just for them but for the people they interviewed. They wanted her to divorce her husband and come back to the States with them, but she didn't. (Her brother and sister had moved back to the states decades before.)

I almost didn't ask the one question I really wanted to ask, which was "Why didn't you _tell_ me?" I was kind of afraid to cos I really like Mrs. Figg, she's like my pretend grandmother, and I was afraid I'd start yelling and she wouldn't like me anymore. But she knew something was bothering me, and she guessed what it was, and said she'd always figured I'd need to do a bit of shouting when I found out, and then I asked her, if she even knew I was going to be upset, why couldn't she just tell me?

That's where it gets complicated. During the Voldemort War, and for quite a while running up to it, it was even worse to be a squib in Britain than it usually is, and the jobs they were allowed to hold were really restricted. Mrs. Figg was working as a charwoman for the Ministry for Magic and she got approached by a representative of an organization that was fighting against Voldemort. You'd think the government would be doing that, and they were, kind of, but there were (and still are) way too many people in government that were secretly on his side, and even the ones that weren't were still unwilling to do much, because the Death Eaters came from the "best families". So this secret organization was doing what it could to keep things from getting worse, anyway, and Mrs. Figg helped them out by spying in the ministry. (People will say anything in front of the servants, she said.) Before my mother defeated Voldemort, our side was losing, and since the people in power were too prejudiced to be able to accept that a "mudblood" defeated the great Dark Lord, they put it on me, the Last Scion of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived (gag). Since my parents were dead, everyone wanted to raise me, either for the honor, or to be able to use my fame, or to get revenge (although some of my mother's friends wanted me for me, they didn't have political clout), so the only place they could put me was with family. My closest living relatives on the magical side are the Tonkses, who have no political power, and the Malfoys, who have lots, and it's widely rumored that Lucius Malfoy bought his way out of prison, as he was a marked Death Eater and claimed he had been acting under the Imperius Curse, which is just what it sounds like, so they had to put me with my mother's sister.

Blood is really important in the wizarding world. (Duh.) So nobody would argue with me being placed with my mother's blood-kin. But they wanted someone to keep an eye on me to make sure I was safe, and Mrs. Figg kind of volunteered and kind of got volunteered.

We argued a bit there, and Mrs. Figg told me that she had really liked my mother, everyone who knew her did, and I had been an adorable baby and she was quite happy to quit working for the Ministry and come live in Little Whinging and offer AP unlimited free childminding. So I guess that's all right. And she still cares about me, and she's sorry she couldn't tell me, but she wasn't allowed to. She wasn't even supposed to have told me as much as she did, or send me those postcards, or tell me to keep an eye out for my Hogwarts letter, and she's really glad that the only person I told was Professor McGonnagle (whose name is Minerva), cos otherwise she'd be in big trouble. I'm really glad she did. I can't imagine what would have happened if UV or the Dud had seen my letter first. I bet I'd still be in my cupboard and maybe they'd decide to spend money on a decent lock for it after all. But Professor McGonnagle never quite agreed with me never being told anything, so she already knew I was hearing stories.

Then I remembered that I wanted to send a letter to Cassiopeia Black. Mrs. Figg said it would be better to send a polite letter to Lord Black, introducing myself, so we sat and she helped me work on my penmanship. Quills are hard! She ended up writing the letter for me so we could send it today and I promised to spend half an hour a day from now until school starts working on learning how to write properly and to use a quill. She also said that for practicing script it would probably make more sense to use my fountain pen, since learning to write decently and learning to use a quill properly are different skills.

She also warned me that all of the Blacks in my parents' generation had supported the Dark Lord except for Andromeda Tonks, but since almost all of them were therefore either dead or in prison (Narcissa Malfoy is married to Lucius, who bought himself off, and was never very political anyway), Lord Black has quite gone off him, if he ever actually liked him in the first place, so I didn't need to worry about Lord Black trying to rend me down for potions ingredients.

So anyway, we wrote as nice a letter as I could come up with, and admitted someone was doing the actual writing for me as I had only just learned of my heritage and had not yet mastered quill use. I got back a letter saying. "Dear Master Potter, Thank you very much for writing, and I quite understand the need for a secretary. I shall send you a longer letter tomorrow, once mine is back on duty, but I did not want to hesitate to welcome you back to the family. Yours faithfully, Black"

Mrs. Figg was quite shocked. She pointed out the Black seal on the wax of the letter, and that the closure was one to a social equal. She also said that Lord Black is very old and said to be pretty sick, though, so he might be a little confused, but that a letter written in Lord Black's hand was a very special thing, and I should be very careful of it. She also said that there were probably charms on the letter to keep it from being used against him in any way, and considering how well _I_ get on with _my_ family, that only seems sensible.

After that, we did some cooking together and she showed me what she knew of different kinds of potions ingredient preparation, although she said that there's more to it than just the mechanics. If you get the mechanics wrong though, she said, getting the rest right doesn't help much. She showed me one preparation that when done properly by a magical person makes a nice sleep aid, a mild one suitable to giving to restless children, but when done by someone with no magic just makes herbal tea - which is still nice and relaxing, but it needs straining. I quite liked it. She also said it was an old recipe, so probably not in my potions textbook, so I wrote it down.

Three dried rose hips, crushed

One pinch of fennel seed, bruised

Two chamomile plants, with the flowers but without the roots, chopped but not washed

Sixteen ounces of rainwater that fell during the new moon

She said that she couldn't remember the proper method of brewing it, so I would have to ask about. For tea, all you need to do is steep it in water just off the boil until it smells right and then strain it. And for tea it's all right to wash the ingredients, and also to add a bit of licorice root. Professor Snape teaches potions, maybe he might know and be willing to talk to me about it. If not, maybe once I make friends, one of their grandmothers will know.

We also did dicing, mincing, and chiffonade, but those ingredients we used for fish chowder. It was really good, but she said so long as I remember carrots, potatoes, onions, and cream, with a bit of salt and pepper and whatever herbs make me happy, there's no need to write down a recipe.

AP came and picked me up after dinner and sent me up to my room (UV and the Dud are watching telly) and I wrote up all this and buried my letter in the bottom of my book bag, and now I need sleep. I can't wait for tomorrow!

[AN: I'll be putting any further author's notes I have in my profile. Thanks for the reviews!]


	12. Twenty-five July, 1991, AM

**25 July 1991 Thursday**

I have a lot to take in. Saturday I find out I'm a wizard and magic is real. Sunday I move into an actual bedroom for the first time in my life. Monday I find out I have a lot more relatives than I thought. Tuesday I find out that my mother's childhood best friend is going to be one of my professors and that I'm rich. Wednesday I get a lot more background on my family and I get a letter from Lord Black. Today I'm supposed to hear from him again, so I've got my bedroom window wide open and I'm trying to focus on getting things done, but it's hard. I've done my half hour of calligraphy practice, I've read and highlighted the other two chapters in my potions text, I read the introductions to all my other textbooks, and I've read through all the notes I've made since I found out.

I forgot I was going to write about what the deal was with braiding and knot tying and that sort of magic not being taught at Hogwarts. Mrs. Figg said that this is stuff the members of old families would know but isn't written down (she also told me that nothing she was telling me then was forbidden to be written down, and that the stuff that was forbidden, some of that she didn't know, and the rest she couldn't tell me anyway). First, there are two meanings to the term Dark Magic. The one that people usually mean, or assume people mean is "evil magic" but the older meaning is "earth, lunar, hidden, women's magic". Most magic to do with textiles is dark magic, as is all blood magic. Women have a special affinity for blood magic (Why? ... Oh. Yuck. OK.) and only women of childbearing age are supposed to do it. The protections my mother put on me were ancient blood protections. Men aren't supposed to do blood magic because there's no way for them to get blood except by hurting or killing something. There are little blood magics that everyone does, like charging personal runes or marking possessions, but even then, men would be better off using semen (Yuck!). Some holidays, like Beltane and Yule, are dark holidays, which doesn't mean they're evil, just that they are about ... It's really hard to explain, because anything I can think of to contrast to "light" also implies "evil". Mrs. Figg taught me a new word, chthonic, but I'm not sure I even spelled it right, let alone that I could say it.

But anyway, balance, right hand vs. left hand, light vs. dark, solar vs. lunar, are all important things in magic. Most of the time when people talk about the Old Magic, they are talking about the old dark magic but trying to avoid saying that dark is good. Also, dark is the magic of judgement, light is the magic of mercy, and too much of either is bad.

She also told me that this isn't the most popular viewpoint these days and that while boys and men pick up things about the existence of women's magic, it's not something they are supposed to talk about much. She said she was filling me in because this is something all the kids in magical families already know. She had no idea where my mother would have learned it. Maybe Professor McGonnagle or Professor Sprout teach it. I'll probably never find out. I mentioned having seen a book on magic embroidery, and she said that some secrets are less secret than others, and that some things got rolled into chthonic because they were things women usually did, rather than anything deep about them. I had to think about that, but I guess it's kind of like if rugby was a kind of magic.

She also said that this doesn't mean that nothing and no one is evil, just that the definitions of words are often fuzzy. You can do evil light magic or good dark magic, it's all in how you use it. We ended up talking a bit about what counts as light magic, but just for an easy example, repeatedly healing someone just so you can hurt them some more without killing them is pretty evil. She also said that according to her parents' research, the Dark Lord had no business calling himself that, cos there's only ever supposed to be a Dark Lady. We giggled a bit about what that said about dark lords.

She used lots of big words when explaining all this, so I kept having to stop her and ask again, and she said sorry, that's what comes of being the child of scientists. I said, wait a minute, I thought your parents studied genetics, and she said if her parents had gone to Hogwarts, they would have been Ravenclaws (as her siblings were) because they wanted to know everything. Dinner table discussions were really interesting. (I think Ravenclaw is sounding better and better... But then I think of something cool about Hufflepuff or Professor Sprout - oh, and Welsh for Hufflepuff is pronounced ooftytoof, but I can't remember how to spell it. Who wouldn't want to be an ooftytoof?)

Argh. Still no owl. Back to my notebook. There's a list of Noble and Most Ancient families and a list of Ancient families. Is it possible to be most ancient without being noble? No, because all the families that would qualify have died out. Is it possible to be noble without being Ancient or Most Ancient (most ancient means you had a family member at Hogwarts with the founders)? No, because nobility is granted by the crown, and since the Statutes of Secrecy magical people have much less chance of being noticed by the crown. Does the Queen know about magic? Yes, and there are some magics that only the seated monarch can perform. Does that mean the Queen is magical? It's complicated and my books don't explain it anywhere that I can find.

No owl no owl no owl... Haven't done Dudley's horoscope yet, not sure I care at this point. I think I have enough to be going on with at present. Totally forgot about the talking snake, got to remember to ask someone about that. We named the kittens Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, and Marigold.

What the... There's a coach in front of my house pulled by four black winged horses! And now AP's calling me!


	13. Twenty-five July, 1991, PM

**25 July Thursday again**

LORD BLACK CAME HERE! _Here!_ He had his coach and his solicitor and his doctor and all sorts of people with him and Aunt Petunia curtsied a lot and was polite to him and he was still here when Dudley got back from Piers' and UV got in from work, and they were polite too.

Lord Black is SCARY. He was nothing but nice to me, even let me talk to the coachman and explore the whole coach and pet the horses (they're called Granians) and told me not to stand on ceremony with him and, if I wished, call him Grandfather. He scared AP and UV witless, though, only by smiling at them and thanking them for having been so kind to his heir.

That was a huge shock. Apparently, Sirius Black was his grandson and heir cos his son Orion died in an accident, and Sirius was my godfather and named me his heir before betraying my parents to Voldemort and getting sent to Azkaban (the wizard prison, which is really horrible). Lord Black had been trying to find me forever, but he didn't know my mother had a sister, so he didn't think of looking outside the magical world. After tying up a few loose ends (he said he left me plenty of notes to read when I get older) he disinherited Sirius this morning and named me his heir and he had his people spend all last night searching school records to find where I lived. I asked if I could ask how he knew where to look, and he said he simply had one of his servants take a broom and follow Hedwig back.

Lord Black looks like a really old movie star. He's pale, he doesn't look at all healthy and his skin looked really thin and fragile, but he sat up straight and his hands didn't shake and he looked like he could see through stone. He was wearing black robes, but not like the ones I saw at Diagon Alley. These hung a lot better and opened down the front and showed a white shirt, a fancy green and gold tie, a deep red waistcoat and dark grey knitted leggings. If I could wear robes like that, I wouldn't mind robes so much. (Even with the knitted leggings. Calling them leggings makes them sound girly, but they weren't.) I think almost everything he was wearing was silk. He had really long hair pulled into a tail in back and he wore a head-thing kind of like what Jewish men wear, also black.

He told me that by the definition they used when he was a boy, I was a pureblood. It used to be that a halfblood was defined as the child of a pureblood and a muggle or the child of two muggleborns or two halfbloods, but the child of a pureblood and a muggleborn or halfblood was a pureblood. He said that this was before the word "mudblood" was used by anyone other than inbred lowlifes like the Gaunts and that he never wanted to hear of me stooping to use it or he'd come back and haunt me. We talked about pureblood supremacy and Voldemort and he pointed out the non-magical nobility considers itself above and apart from the commoners and doesn't want their children marrying them, but that doesn't mean they want them all killed. He smiled at me and said that he was far too old to curry his own Granians, and that he was quite glad that there were so many people out there who were willing to work for money.

He also told me that he was very sick, and it was possible that this might be the only time we ever meet, but that he was happier than he could say that he had lived long enough to hear from me and see me. I asked if Draco Malfoy could have been his heir and he praised me on my reading and said that he could have been, if Sirius hadn't named me, or if he'd disinherited Sirius before finding me, but that there were reasons detailed in his notes why he really wanted to find me. He also said that, while I am far to young to have to worry about marrying, he wanted me to consider any surname on the family tree off-limits (plus Bones and Lovegood) and while he'd look on ecstatically from the afterlife if I got married immediately at seventeen and sired children immediately, he wasn't fool enough to insist on it, nor to try to arrange anything now.

And there's a house set aside for the Black heir that could be mine now if I could convince my family to move to it (AP looked like she might faint at that), or when I came of age I could choose any of the Black properties as my residence, and recommended the town house on Curdzon Way, or the Potter townhouse, also on Curdzon Way, just a couple of houses down. Both nice houses in a green and quiet neighborhood convenient to the London social scene and the Wizengamot.

After that, he said that anything else he would give as advice I could find in his journals, that he'd be engaging a tutor for me to get me up to snuff before September (or as close as possible anyway), and that he wanted to hear about me now. So I sat next to him and told him about myself as much as I could and I tried not to make AP and UV look bad, because he wouldn't be sitting there forever, but he still looked at them thoughtfully every once in a while and they went pale again.

It was after he was done talking to me (he also told me some family stories and described the last Yule celebration he had with all the grandchildren present) that he asked if I would like a better look at the carriage and sent me outside. I don't know what he said to them because I was so excited that I went out and talked to the various men around the coach and explored it (oh, and snake speech is Parseltongue, and a person who can speak it is a Parselmouth, and it's another chthonic thing, and the guys around the coach were impressed that I knew the difference) instead of listening. When I went back in, though, he was getting ready to leave. He gave me a big gold signet ring that I thought I'd have to put on a string around my neck or something, but it shrunk down to fit my finger and he said that only I could take it off, and it was protection from most poisons although I should avoid basilisks and nundu. He actually let me climb up in his lap and hug him, which made him smile. He said that was the first hug he had ever gotten from one of his grandchildren. When they were growing up he was younger and more foolish, and thought different things were important. I have the rest of my life to learn formality, but kindness and affection can't be taught, they just are.

He took both of my hands in his and looked in my eyes and told me that if it were possible, I would see him again, but if it weren't, he was glad to have met me and gotten to know me, and if I am forbidden to go to his funeral, try not to hate the people who forbade me _too_ much, as they were just trying to protect me, but feel free to get even, so long as I didn't get caught. (He agrees with Lazarus Long that hating people is a waste of time. He agrees with Lazarus Long about a lot, actually. I showed him the book and he approved of much of it, said it was very Slytherin, and that I might also enjoy Machiavelli's _The Prince_ as well.)

And then he and his retainers left, although his solicitor stayed. I couldn't hear anything through the door, though, so I finally gave up and came up here to write it all down.

The ring is really wicked. It's smaller than it was, but it's still big and heavy and it's on my right middle finger. It would probably hurt if I punched somebody. It's got the Black coat of arms on it, and the Black motto, Tojours pur, which Lord Black said wasn't just about blood but also purity of intent and focus and such and mentioned the yoga mantra of Be Here Now.

I hope I get to see him again.


	14. Twenty-six July, 1991

**26 July 1991 Friday**

Today has been right weird. First, UV apologized to me over breakfast. Let's say that again and see if it gets more believable. Uncle Vernon, Vernon Cartwright Dursley, Vice President of Grunnings Manufacturing and hater of all thing freaky and Potter, if that's not redundant, apologized to ME. And called me "Harry" the entire time. I did actually pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, and when he said he was taking Dudley AND me golfing tomorrow I'm surprised my heart didn't stop. My acceptance of his apology was probably the most jumbled thing I have ever tried to say in my life.

Breakfast was waffles with berries, and I got to have as many was I wanted along with Dudley. AP hardly sat down all breakfast. I was a little sorry for her and I didn't let her shoo me out of the kitchen instead of cleaning up, so both Dudley and I helped clean up afterwards. And before Dudley took off, he told me if I wanted to watch some telly while he was out, that was OK.

So that's what I did all morning. I sat on the couch, with my feet up (and AP didn't have to tell _me_ to take my shoes off first) and watched cartoons all morning. It was brilliant.

AP and I made and ate lunch together. I tried not to look at her funny while we were working, and she said she reckoned I didn't have to worry about cooking anymore. I asked her, this is real, isn't it? I am really a Viscount and going to be an Earl. She said yes, the solicitors had shown her plenty of paperwork to prove it and also taken magical oaths that it was true. I thought about that all through lunch and when we were cleaning up, I asked her if life would have been a lot easier when I was a little kid if they had known that. She blushed and said yes and I said it was OK, it must have been hard having two toddlers in diapers at once, especially if one of them sometimes does magic. She looked even more embarrassed and suggested that I might want to go see Mrs. Figg and tell her all about everything, and now that I am a rich noble lord and all, if I want to buy one of her kittens, she wouldn't stop me.

So I went off and visited Mrs. Figg cos I'd been going to ask AP if that was all right anyway and left AP alone to think. I think AP feels guilty, even if she didn't actually apologize, and I don't think UD actually does, even though he did. Not sure about Dudley, I think he may just be confused right now.

When I got to Mrs. Figg's, there was an old guy there, in really loud clashing robes and tall wizard hat and high-heeled boots. He had really long white hair and a really long white beard, and he wore glasses. He and Mrs. Figg had obviously been arguing, although he didn't look angry, more worried. She introduced him as Professor Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Headmaster of Hogwarts and she introduced me as the Right Honorable, the Viscount of Potter, Harold Potter. Then we discussed Harold vs. Harry and what the professor's titles meant. Turns out I have a seat on the Wizengamot, and when I inherit the house of Black, I shall have two, plus a lot of people looking to me for how to vote. Professor Dumbledore said he had cherished hopes that Lord Black would remain healthy for years yet, so that I could have a childhood unmarked by politics, but unfortunately the Blacks are one of the shortest-lived pureblood families. He also apologized to me (is today National Apology Day or something?) about not having come to explain all this before, but he had lost track of time and thought it would still be a few years before I turned eleven.

I nodded at that, then we talked about Lord Black a bit, and the professor warned me that the Blacks were known to be rather Dark. I asked him if that was evil or chthonic, and he said "Both, I'm afraid." We also talked about chthonic and why it wasn't taught at Hogwarts and how a lot of people can't tell the difference between two types of darkness. I said if blood magic is natural for girls, wouldn't it make sense to teach it to them, and he told me there were special classes just for witches, but that he had no idea what was taught in them, so that was OK, then.

Then we talked about Voldemort, and how most people call him You Know Who or He Who Must Not Be Named, and how famous I was for killing him and how probably every little girl in Britain wanted to marry me. I said that at least I know who I can't marry and he asked me what I meant and I said no Bulstrodes, Tonkses, Weasleys, Macmillans, Lovegoods, Boneses, and I couldn't remember the rest. He asked me why not and said that Ginevra Weasley is a lovely girl, so I told him they were too nearly related, and that Lord Black told me no one whose name appears on the Black family tree. Apparently Sirius Black's parents were cousins. Ick. No wonder Lord Black was glad to get me. The Potters only appear on the family tree once, and my mother was a muggleborn, so no possible relation.

I got a neat piece of gossip, too. Apparently Baron Patil had asked for Walburga Black's hand, and she really wanted to marry him but her grandfather hated the idea and made her marry her cousin instead. This was back when he was just the heir, but still. Back when people were less strict about blood, they were a lot more strict about race.

The professor said what he meant to say about Voldemort was that he and some others think he might not actually be dead, as there was no body at the site. I knew it worked that way in stories, if you haven't seen the bad guy's body and made absolutely sure it's him, he isn't actually dead, but I didn't know that worked in real life, too. And if he's not dead, he's going to want to come back, get revenge on me, and start trying to take over again. I am beginning to get an ominous feeling about this, but I didn't mention that to him. Taking my horoscope, my runes, and what Ollivander said together, it sounds like fate is out to get me.

Why me?

But I'll worry about that if and when it actually looks like happening. I've got plenty going on already without worrying about possibly undead dark lords.

Anyway, Professor Dumbledore and I talked about this and that, then he said in was a pleasure to have met me and he looked forward to seeing me at school and threw a bunch of stuff in the fireplace, walked into it, and disappeared.

I need to come up with a shorthand for all these professors with long names. PS could mean either Professor Snape or Professor Sprout, so that doesn't work. PSS for Professor Severus Snape, PMM for Professor Minerva McGonnagle, and then PD for Professor Dumbledore and PS for Professor Sprout, and I'll worry about all my other professors when I meet them.

Anyway. After PD left, I finally got to talk to Mrs. Figg, and I told her all about how weird everyone is acting and about meeting Lord Black, in way more detail than I gave PD, and how I have a house of my own if I only had a way to live there, and once I'm grown I will have lots of houses, and how he said he's getting me a tutor so I can learn as much as I can in the month I have left before I go out in public, and how he thought someone might forbid me from going to his funeral, and that I was the only grandchild who had ever hugged him and that he told me I could call him Grandfather. Mrs. Figg told me to slow down and breathe. It's hard not to get excited, though, with everything going on.

So we talked for a while, and she lent me a book, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and I went home for dinner. With all the talking I did today, I was surprised it was still daylight when I left.

So I had dinner with everyone (lasagna and a green salad and biscuits) and came upstairs to read a bit, and I can see a few similarities, but I am NOT little Lord Fauntleroy, and I am definitely not going to dress in ruffles and be all twee.

Tomorrow I am going golfing with UV and Dudley. That should be interesting.


	15. Twenty-seven thru Twenty-nine July, 1991

**27 July 1991 Saturday**

Today was a beautiful day and UV took Dudley and me golfing just as he said he would. We went to the West Hill Golf Club in Woking, where UV is a member. It's a really beautiful place. First we stopped off at the pro shop and got me proper shoes and then he signed me and Dudley up for a junior clinic. And it was fun! After the clinic, UV took me & Dudley to play a couple of holes to see what we'd learnt. UV made a bet with us that if either of us could beat him on a hole, he would take us to a film afterwards. We didn't quite make it, but we came close, and I did a really good job of not being better than Dudley but still looking like I was trying, and UV actually offered me some pointers on my swing. We had lunch in the clubhouse, and it was amazing! All kinds of things I'd never had before. For me, anyway. Dudley stuck to the familiar, but UV told us before we went in how much each of us could spend on lunch, and I divided it up carefully so I could try lots of things. I can state for the record that I really like curried courgette soup, although I am not so sure about calamari. I offered some to UV and Dudley, though, and they polished it off for me. The wild mushroom soufflé was to die for, and for pudding I had Creme Brûlée.

I can't believe the fun I had with my uncle and cousin, of all people. UV introduced me to a couple of people he knew as "my nephew, the Viscount Potter," which I think might not have actually been proper form, but who cares, really? People were really nice. Amazing how a title changes you from a freakish young hooligan bound for a bad end to a charming and delightful young man. A sad commentary on the state of human nature and all, but I'll take it.

UV said we'd be going again next week and Dudley hardly whined at all about missing TV and having to walk. UV said next week, we'd try another competition, and whichever of us boys won, he'd buy a shirt from the pro shop. I don't think I'm going to try to win unless Dudley gets a whole lot better, but it will still be fun.

When we got home, there was an owl waiting for me from Lord Black, saying that he had engaged a tutor for me and we would be starting work on Monday, at Grimmauld Place, and that I was to be sure to have my potions kit, textbooks, and wand ready to go immediately after breakfast. Dudley snorted at the idea of school in the summer and said "Better you than me!" and went off to play video games. I came up here, finished Little Lord Fauntleroy, and read some of my etiquette book. Sooooooooo much to learn!

**28 July Sunday**

Today is a free day, and a little rainy. It seems strange not to be rushing off somewhere after the week I just had. Eight days ago I found out about magic, and since then the whole world has turned upside down. It's weird, but I am feeling really tempted to grab one of my old books and curl up in my cupboard. No temptation to dig out any of my old clothes, though. I like having decent clothes that fit, and I brought back all the decent my-size hand-me-downs from Mrs. Figg's last time I was there, so I have my really nice brand new clothes and my halfway decent new old clothes, and then I'll have a full wizard wardrobe waiting for me at the station.

I think I'll spend the day learning to play wizard chess. Talking pieces come in rather handy that way.

**28 July evening**

Well, that was embarrassing. At least they were nice about it. And they say I'm learning.

Kings and queens and pawns and rooks.

Can't I learn of them from books?

Nope, still not Shakespeare.

Tomorrow I start with my tutor. I wonder what he'll be like?

**29 July 1991 Monday**

And now I know. He's a quiet guy with not quite blond hair and a little mustache and his name is Remus Lupin. I'm to call him Remus. Lord Black called him back from the continent, where he was living, because Remus was one of my father's best friends along with Sirius Black and some guy named Peter Pettigrew. We didn't get into too much of that, though, because we have so much to cover. Today we handled various forms of address and bows and basic manners. Wednesdays will be field trip day, and Fridays we will floo to Longbottom Manor to have dance lessons with Neville and two girls named Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Tomorrow we'll be brewing. I'm going to ask him if he knows Mrs. Figg's potion.

I even have homework tonight: research what alliances the house of Potter has had historically and be able to name at least three members of each allied family. I've already got one - Neville Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom, the dowager countess and Neville's regent, and Algernon Longbottom, the countess' brother-in-law. And now to tackle the rest.

Hmm, I wonder who my regent is? I shall have to ask Remus if he knows.


	16. Thirty July through One August, 1991

**30 July 1991 Tuesday**

Still rainy. Today we brewed. Remus hadn't heard of Mrs. Figg's potion, but he let me demonstrate the proper preparation of ingredients and then we went over the differences between chopping, dicing, mincing, and he'd never heard of chiffonade, so I showed him. We worked in the kitchen this time instead of the potions lab, because we were using regular vegetables and herbs, and when we were done, we gave the chopped, etc. bits to Kreacher to make Spaghetti Bolognese.

Oh yeah, Kreacher. I was a bit freaked out by him because I had never even heard of house elves before, so Remus gave me a crash course on house elves. I asked Kreacher if he would be willing to wear livery like Lord Black's elves, and he said yes, so now he does. I get that he's my servant, and that he's quite proud of that fact, but I hate seeing him in rags. I also met Walburga Black's portrait, which was another thing Remus had to explain. I'm still not sure I get it, cos the painting isn't actually her, but still it kind of is, and you're supposed to treat her like she was still alive, except that she's in a picture? I'm sure it will all make sense eventually.

Anyway, after doing initial stages in the kitchen, we went downstairs to the potions lab and worked with actual magical ingredients. Remus said there was no point until I was comfortable with ingredient prep, because when you're brewing, it's important to get not only the prep but the intention right.

I asked him what that meant and said Mrs. Figg had mentioned something about that too, and he said that brewing isn't the same as cooking, cos anyone can cook and it doesn't matter what you're thinking when you're doing it, but to brew you have to be able to do magic, and you have to focus on the ingredients as you prepare them. If you just mindlessly chop stuff and stir it together, the potion might work, sort of, but what you're supposed to do is channel your magic through your knife or pestle into the ingredients, and that it's kind of like meditating. I said I'd never meditated, so we went back upstairs to a sitting room and we worked on meditation until lunch. (Kreacher's an excellent cook.)

After lunch we went back down to the lab and I made a calming draft. Remus made one first all by himself and had me watch, then I did it, with him watching and critiquing. He said that part of being a good brewer is being able to concentrate on your ingredients even if people are mucking about in the background and that I'd really need that skill at school, so starting next week he was going to start doing stupid stuff to try to wreck my concentration. I said that wasn't quite fair, since I didn't know what I as doing and he said he'd be showing me anything we were going to brew before having me try it, but that my classmates were likely to be worse.

Watching the potion come together and change color was wicked. I wonder what color Mrs. Figg's potion turns?

Once we finished up brewing and cleaning up after, we still had some time left in the day, so we went back up to the drawing room and discussed the Potter alliances and I did some more quill practice, and then I flooed home and had dinner (bubble and squeak, carrots, mushy peas yuck, and trifle) and I just finished up my essay on what I could find on the Black alliances. Tomorrow is field trip day, I wonder where we're going?

**31 July Wednesday**

No rain today, just muggy. We started at Diagon Alley to see if Madame Malkin had any of my new robes ready and I changed into one of them, a nice dark blue with cut sleeves and a red shirt underneath. I think I look pretty sharp for a guy in a dress. I really don't like wizard hats, though. At least it doesn't say "Wizzard" on it.

After that, we spent the morning watching a Wizengamot session and ate lunch with Elphias Doge, the Potter proxy and Cassiopeia Black, the Black proxy. Mr. Doge had the proxy written out by my father, as he thought I would like to see it, and anyway I should see what a proper proxy looked like. The date on the proxy was from long before I was born. Why am I not surprised?

Mr. Doge went to school with PD, but he doesn't look it. He kind of looks like an elderly bulldog and he seems really nice. We talked about a few recent votes and why he voted the way he did. I decided I like him. He's a very straightforward guy who doesn't go in for big words or fancy sentences and I got the feeling he was the last guy in the world you should ask, "Does this dress make me look fat?"

Lady Cassiopeia, now AC, gave me permission to call her Aunt. She's tall and had her hair all piled up on her head in fancy loops and stuff and she looked very grand. I don't think the actual Queen looks as regal as she did. She was nice, though, and while everyone else says I look like my father, she said I looked so much like my grandmother that it really took her back. 'Course, after she said that she said that we obviously need to feed me up, and everybody started treating me like Harry-the-skinny-kid rather than the Most Honorable, the Viscount Potter. It was a little embarrassing, but more comfortable, really. PD dropped by the table and greeted us all and asked what I thought of the session. I told him that watching it was very instructive and I was glad to find I had such a good proxy to take care of things until I was old enough to step in. PD mentioned that he and Mr. Doge had been in Gryffindor together and the discussion turned into a friendly argument over which house I should be in. Mr. Doge said Gryffindor, AC said Slytherin, Remus said Ravenclaw, so PD argued for Hufflepuff. It was all a lot of fun, and the others treated Remus like he was almost as young as me!

When we finished up lunch, we bade the elders goodbye and then Remus took me to the public owl post, the public floo, and the house elf hiring agency and we finished up at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream. I tried the cashew turtle flavor, and it had actual cashew turtles digging their way out of it. They were blobs of toffee with chocolate on top and cashews for a head and legs and they were so funny. Remus and I ended up chasing them all over the shop and laughing ourselves sick. After, he magicked me clean and apparated me straight to the Dursleys' back garden. I was early enough that I got to help AP fix dinner, and she let me make a chocolate mousse all by myself. I think I am going to remember how to do that for when I start dating girls, so I can make it for them.

250 g chocolate (preferably cadburys)

2 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

6 eggs, separated

Melt chocolate over hot water, stir in Bailey's and egg yolks, whip egg whites until stiff (them, not you) and fold half of the fluffy egg whites into the chocolate. Then put the rest of the egg whites on the chocolate in a bowl and beat them together and put the mousse in wine glasses in the fridge for three hours or so. Put whipped cream on top. Eat. Die happy.

**1 August, Thursday**

In the morning we did penmanship and I wrote thank you letters to AC and Mr. Doge and we had Hedwig deliver them. Remus said that my handwriting is coming along nicely. You can actually tell it's letters now and not drunk flies walking in ink and over paper. We spent the rest of the time before lunch looking at the other Noble and Most Ancient Houses and I found out why I can't marry Luna Lovegood. Her mother was the last of the Selwyns, so Luna's first son will be the Earl of Selwyn, and you can't be two earls at once. The last of the Lestranges are in Azkaban, so unless they get released and have kids, the next Earl of Lestrange will be a Hufflepuff third year named Cedric Diggory.

Of the viscounties, I'm the Viscount Potter because there are no more Potters, Neville is the Longbottom heir because he has his grandmother to stand as regent, the Gamp heir is Methuselah Gamp, who is around two years old (poor kid, his parents must hate him), and the Burke heir is Rodolphus Burke who works at Borgin and Burke's until his older brother the Viscount has a son (all daughters so far).

The Abbotts, Boneses, Greengrasses, Macmillans, Notts, Patils and Rosiers are all baronies. Susan Bones is the Bones heir and Honoria Macmillan is the Macmillan heir. Both of their husbands have to take their name, so they'll be looking at younger sons or commoners. The only remaining Rosiers are very old and unlikely to have more children, so Draco Malfoy is the Rosier heir. Theodore Nott, the other boy at Madame Malkin's that time, is the Nott heir. Hannah Abbott's cousin Benjamin is the Abbott heir. He's in his twenties. Leland Greengrass, the Greengrass heir, finished up seventh year this last June, and one of his younger sisters, Daphne, will be in my class. Karan Patil is also in his twenties his twin cousins are the girls I ran into on the way out of Madame Malkin's.

Remus said he had me study the heirs because so many of them are at, or have siblings or cousins at, Hogwarts, so it was more important for me to know who they were, especially since I'll be meeting some of them tomorrow. Eep! Well, at least I know I'm not going to marry Neville or Susan. That helps.

After lunch we did more brewing, this time a potion to turn someone's hair green. I asked him wouldn't hair dye work as well, and he said yes, but it's a lot easier to slip someone a potion than it is to dye their hair without anyone noticing. I thought about it for a bit and I decided that turning someone's hair green isn't that embarassing, and I wouldn't mind if it were done to me, so it's OK.

Went home, helped with dinner (chicken pot pie, green salad, banana pudding) and just finished my homework, which was to find out everything I could about Hannah, Neville, Susan, and myself from the resources I have available to me. I had just started reading when I realized he didn't say "my books" he said "the resources available to me", so I spent a few minutes thinking about the resources I have available to me. Owling someone would take a while, so he probably meant resources closer to home, so I asked AP if I could go see Mrs. Figg. She said it was a bit late, and why didn't I call her, so I did. Turns out Neville and Susan lost their parents to Deatheaters as well. Neville is being raised by his grandmother because the Lestranges tortured his parents until they went mad, and now they live at St. Mungo's, and Susan is being raised by her aunt Amelia, who is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, because Deatheaters killed her father, mother, and baby brother. Hannah's a halfblood and her family was in Canada until after the Fall of Voldemort. I asked AP too, just in case, and she said that Alice Longbottom was the Matron of Honor at my parents' wedding, and she thought she might have been my godmother as well, and she thinks that she has some pictures of me & Neville in the bath together in a box in the attic somewhere. I wonder if Remus already knew that.

Tomorrow is dancing and deportment lessons. Eek!


	17. Two through Four August, 1991

**2 August 1991 Friday**

Today began badly. When we arrived at the Longbottom estate, PMM was waiting for us and reminded me that I had a prior engagement on Wednesday, with her, to go meet with the goblins of Gringotts. So now PMM and the goblins are angry with me. I am doomed. I can't believe I totally forgot. I never even mentioned it to Remus, so he couldn't have reminded me, but now he's feeling guilty for forgetting about my birthday, and me telling him that it's OK, I forgot all about it myself because I never celebrate it made things worse rather than better. Lady Longbottom welcomed us to her home and then left us all in a drawing room so we could emote all we need in privacy, so at least we weren't all carrying on in front of a total stranger. After about half an hour, Remus and PMM decided that it was unreasonable to expect a ten year old boy to be responsible for his own schedule, and from now on, all my appointments would be made through Remus.

I can't believe I did that. I never do that. I reread my journal fairly often to remind myself what I've written down, but I was so wrapped up in Magic! and Lord Black! and Golf with Uncle Vernon! to pay enough attention to details. Bugger. Bugger bugger bugger bugger. I bet all the faculty have lost all respect for me now and now the goblins hate me too.

So anyway, we finished talking and PMM said she'd talk to them and reschedule for me and floo Remus with the details and then she left and I kind of freaked out at Remus. He called me "Cub" and hugged me and said that I expect too much of myself and that it was a simple miscommunication. Eleven year olds are not to be held responsible for getting themselves to financial meetings, and that any blame was to be shared between Severus and PMM and himself. Why PSS, I asked, and he said that he should have told AP about the appointment and he didn't. And he said that the goblins would fine me for wasting their time and with the payment of the fine and an apology everything would be all right again.

So then we went down to the ballroom. Neville and Susan and Hannah and Lady Longbottom and a tall blond guy named Raphael Tate were waiting for us. Remus presented me to Lady Longbottom and then Lady Longbottom presented the others to me. (Lady Longbottom outranks me and I outrank everyone else.) Neville is short and round and nervous, Susan is short and round and bouncy and ginger, and Hannah is tall and blonde and, um, sunny? I'm not sure how to put it, she just glows with warmth and niceness. Lady Longbottom presented me to Susan as a desirable partner, and Neville paired with Hannah, the jammy sod.

Mr. Tate was a professional dancing master, and he led us all through our steps while Lady Longbottom played a piano. Susan and Hannah had obviously had lessons and I think by the end they had sore feet. We practiced until lunchtime and then retired to the dining room, where the adults sat at one end of the table and all of us kids got to sit by ourselves at the other, and we were told we had lunch and half an hour's break time before starting up again in the afternoon.

It was kind of quiet, and then Hannah and Susan and I all started to talk at once, then we all stopped at once and all apologized at once and then we all started laughing and after that talking was a lot easier.

Neville's birthday is only a few hours before mine and he already knew we were godbrothers and he's already seen the pictures, and we both swore to each other that we would never show them to the girls. His favorite color is green and he's really into gardening and plants. We took a look at his part of the family greenhouses after lunch.

Hannah and Susan are both halfbloods and they're neighbors so they've known each other forever. Hannah's favorite color is red and Susan's is rainbows. They both play tennis and swim, but Susan likes tennis better and Hannah likes swimming better. Susan really likes this wizard music group called the Weird Sisters and Hannah's mom is seriously into jazz so her favorite group is Spyrogyra. Neville doesn't know much about music, but he knows he doesn't like Celestina Warbeck (I've never heard her, but both the girls agreed she was awful and Hannah compared her to someone who might sing with Lawrence Welk) and I told them about Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits and we agreed that we have to hang out and bring some records. Hannah's favorite food is waffles with lingonberries or lingonberry jam and whipped cream, Susan's is either toffee or fish and chips, Neville's is pasties, and I said I think mine is mushrooms, or maybe chocolate mousse.

We also compared notes on if we'd been told anything about who they could and couldn't marry. Susan laughed and said "Neither of you!" which Neville and I both decided was great, cos we can just be friends and not worry about it. Hannah's not the heir and is never going to be, so she can marry anyone she wants, so long as she doesn't want Draco Malfoy or Marcus Flint because her father can't stand either of their fathers.

We spent the afternoon learning etiquette from Lady Longbottom and I took a ton of notes but I am NOT going to transfer them here. By the time it was time for us to all go home for dinner I was sure my head was about to explode. AP and UV don't want to connect to the floo network, so Remus apparated me home.

I don't remember at all what lunch was, but dinner was ham and Brussels sprouts and mash and white cake with berries for pudding. Tomorrow is golfing with UV and Dudley again and now I need to sleep.

Rereading this entry, I got this sudden mental image of PSS saying "Get over yourself, Potter, I never respected you in the first place," and I got to giggling so hard I nearly cried.

NOW I sleep.

**3 August Saturday**

Golf is fun. I'm tired. Happy, but tired.

**4 August Sunday**

I'm up, I'm dressed, I've had breakfast, there's nothing I have to do today. What do people do when there's nothing they have to do?

Oh, I know, I haven't been to the library in a while, maybe AP will let me go by myself.

**4 August later**

AP was going out to do some errands anyway, so she dropped me off. The librarians said they hardly recognized me. I told them that I've fallen into a penny dreadful - we recently discovered I have a rich uncle. One of them mentioned rumors of a post chaise and four and I said yup, that was him. They said that was wonderful and I deserved to have some luck. I said thanks, so long as they don't start calling me Lord Fauntleroy. Everybody laughed and they showed me a book on asteroid astrology that they'd gotten in recently, so I curled up in a comfy chair and had a good day reading. AP picked me up at 1700 and I helped make dinner (hamburgers American-style with all the trimmings, or American-style for me anyway. No beetroot is going to infest my burgers!

And tomorrow I should hear from PMM about my meeting with the goblins. Hopefully Remus can explain to me the proper way to apologize.


	18. Five through Six August, 1991

**5 August 1991 Monday**

Something somewhere is _wrong_ today. It's a nice day, there's no hint of a storm or anything, but something. I woke up early and nervous, so I got up and made a huge breakfast for everyone, like I used to only better because I've learned how to cook a lot of things in the last month or so. AP and UD got nervous too and said I don't need to do that anymore, but I said I just felt like something was wrong and this made me feel a little calmer. I was so on edge I couldn't even come up with something to make things sound normal. AP asked if I could let her borrow Hedwig today and that freaked me out too, but she said she needed to talk to a few people and that was the only way she knew how to reach them. After everybody _promised_ me _nothing_ bad would happen to her, I went off with Remus. I couldn't focus on my schoolwork either, so we did a grand tour of the house instead since, as Remus said, it's mine and I've barely seen any of it. Kreacher looked at me and shook his head and said I was acting just like Miss Dorea and they gave me lots of chamomile tea with lunch

After lunch we came and visited with Mrs. Figg and they talked while I played with the kittens and brushed Tango, cos he was following me around and every time I looked at him, he'd sit with his back to me and his nose in the air. When I went to talk to Mrs. Figg and Remus, he even jumped up on the table and turned his back on me so everyone could _see_ him ignoring me. Mrs. Figg says he's missed me and his feelings are hurt that I haven't been by to brush him in a while. While I brushed Tango, he purred and I felt a lot better, but as soon as he stopped I felt all tense again. Remus took me home and he and AP talked (and just like with the solicitor, I couldn't overhear anything) and they're probably still talking.

Tango has taken up residence of the foot of my bed. I never realized just how huge he was until he followed me home. AP said that he wasn't quite what she had in mind when she gave me permission for a kitten, but she'd talk to UV about him. He seems to think he's staying.

[AN: For a picture of Tango see http slash slash mcgonnigle dot files dot wordpress dot com slash 2007/07/ coonbig dot jpg and yes, the original cat's name is McGonnigle. The woman holding him is definitely not Mrs. Figg.].

I just heard someone apparate to the back garden. I'd better go see what's up.

**6 August Tuesday**

I just got back home. It's well after midnight. The person who apparated in was PD and he was talking to AP and Lupin when I got downstairs. Lupin was just leaving as I got there, and he apparated back about five minutes later with some red-trimmed black robes over his arm. He gestured towards me and then PD did something with his wand and I could hear what everyone was saying again. Remus helped me on with the robes and shrunk them to fit me and the three of us (PD, Lupin and I) apparated out.

We reappeared in a grand room with lots of black marble and mirrors and candles, but nothing in the way of furniture. By then I was about to burst with curiosity and nerves, but all PD told me was that I was summoned by Lord Black.

Someone came in and got us before PD was done speaking and we hurried through a maze of corridors that would usually have fascinated me, they were so rich and beautiful, but by then I felt like fire alarms were going off in my head and it was all I could do not to scream at people to _hurry_, damn them to perdition! (And where that phrase came from, I don't know.) We ended up in a huge bedroom full of people, almost all in fancy black robes. They all turned and looked at us, and quite a lot of them did very noticeable double-takes, I assume at PD, because I had never seen any of them before.

The crowd parted without a word and I saw that it was Lord Black lying in the bed, looking even paler than when I last saw him. I felt a slight push on my shoulder blade and I went up and bowed and performed the formal greeting that Remus had taught me. Lord Black smiled at me and told me to stand up, and that he was glad I was paying such good attention to my tutor. He asked me if I was enjoying my lessons, and I said "Very much so, thank you, my lord," and he nodded and looked at the crowd.

"Lucius!" he called, and a tall blond regal man whom I would have found really scary if I hadn't already met Lord Black and AC (who I noticed was there in the crowd) stepped forward and bowed.

"Your servant, Lord Black."

"Viscount Potter, I present to you Lucius Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy is a sworn ally of ours and I am of a mind to make him your regent until you come of age."

"But my lord.." He put up a finger and looked at me. "But Grandfather, isn't it too early to be worrying about that?"

"No, my child, it is almost too late. Lucius, remembering your oath, will you swear fealty to my heir, to serve him as you would me and to work for the advancement of his affairs in all things?"

Mr. Malfoy bowed again and said, "It shall be as you wish, my lord."

There was a lot of whispering when he said that. Apparently this was very unexpected, because some people even dropped their drinks.

"Albus!" Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and bowed, not quite as deeply as Mr. Malfoy had done.

"Lord Black."

"I know you want to keep the lad safe, so stand here with us while my heir receives their oaths."

"Would you have me as bonder, my lord?"

He smiled at that, and looked at PD like he was thinking "Nice try." "No need, I have my own."

He gestured, and _Professor Snape_ stepped forward. I hadn't even realized he was there. He was dressed much more formally than the last time and his hair was still a bit greasy, but nothing like it had been. He bowed deeply and drew his wand. I stood between Grandfather and PD and they walked me through accepting Mr. Malfoy's oath, and then Grandfather said that he would have the oaths of every Black and Black dependent in the room or they could choose otherwise and leave. They'd be cast out of the family, of course, if they did, but still they were free to go.

That started more muttering. A beautiful blond woman and a scared-looking blond boy who looked about my age stepped forward first, and Mr. Malfoy introduced them as his wife and son. They swore their oaths, although theirs were nothing like as long and complicated as Mr. Malfoy's, and when they did, my ring glowed briefly. That started everyone else forward, and I took lots of oaths, each one making my ring glow. I looked at a couple of people who were standing on the sidelines, and Grandfather told me that they weren't here to swear to me, they were here to witness, as I would for them eventually and said he would explain in a minute. When they were all done, PSS bowed deeply again and grandfather reminded me that while I outrank almost everyone in the room here, at school Draco and I would be equals, and both of us would be expected to submit to Professor Snape's authority and asked me if I was prepared to do that. I bowed to Professor Snape and said, "Of course. Your servant, sir." PSS raised an eyebrow at that and nodded, and Grandfather told the assembled family members that they were dismissed.

It took people a while to leave, but in the end no one was left but three men, a boy and a girl. Grandfather presented one of the men, a medium-height older gentleman who rather obviously dyed his hair, as it was jet black, as the Right Honorable, the Earl of Lestrange, and his heir, a blond boy who looked a few years older than me, Mr. Cedric Diggory. The second man was Mr. Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. The third man, who was dressed almost as oddly as PD, was introduced as Mr. Xenophilus Lovegood, with his daughter, Miss Luna Lovegood, regent for the Earldom of Selwyn. I did what I hope were the appropriate bows and said I was very happy to meet all of them. Grandfather told me to go and talk to the two heirs for a bit, while he took care of some other business, so Cedric, Luna, and I went off to the other side of the room.

Cedric asked if we were bound for Hogwarts next month, and I was surprised to hear that Luna wasn't going until next year. I had thought she was a little older than I am, not younger. We talked a bit about houses and I mentioned my musings on them. Turns out Cedric's in Hufflepuff, and he said we'd be very welcome there, but he was sure we'd do well wherever we were sorted.

After that, Grandfather called me back over and the others took their leave (except for Remus and PD, of course). Grandfather and I talked for a bit and he told me to be good and mind my tutor, at least as long as he wasn't filling my head with Griffindorish nonsense, and winked at PD. Then he told me very seriously that he didn't expect to live out the week, which was why he called everyone here tonight. He may have commanded the oaths, but they were made to me and bonded by PSS, so they would hold after his death, and that he liked to think that this was one in the eye for the self-styled Lord Voldemort, should he actually return. PD looked quite surprised at that, and I asked why. Grandfather said, as to why it would hurt Voldemort, because I just took oaths from much of his inner circle tonight, and now if they act against me, they'll lose their magic - except for Lucius, who would just drop dead on the spot. And as to why Albus is standing there looking like he'd been slapped with a trout, well, that would be because Albus thought he was the only leader standing against Voldemort, and he has as much trouble discriminating between shades of darkness as any other light wizard. Also, Albus thinks he's the only one who can plot. PD _looked_ at him, and Grandfather wagged a finger at him and said that he was a dying man and could speak as he pleased. He was stern and dignified and proper all his life, and now in his last days he was going to enjoy himself.

He then said he had one more task to perform. "Kreacher, bring the Black Tapestry!" and Kreacher appeared holding a large rolled-up piece of cloth. "Albus, Remus, if you could do me the favor of holding it up for me, I'd call another house elf, but they're a bit short." And when they did, he pointed at the tapestry and said "Bellatrix Black, for putting the needs of an outsider above those of family, I cast you out. Blood and bone, you are no kin of mine."

As I watched, a part of the tapestry burned, and Grandfather told me that when he was gone, the family would be mine to lead and pointed to another burned spot on the tapestry. "That is your cousin Andromeda, whom my father disowned for marrying a muggleborn wizard. You will be going to school with her daughter. If you meet Andromeda and she wishes to be reinstated, it is your choice whether or not to do so. By the rules I was raised with, her daughter Nymphadora is as pureblooded as I am, and a lot saner than many of her relatives." Remus and Dumbledore both goggled at that, and he said that we'd probably best be going, as it was late for a young boy to be up, and too many shocks aren't good for someone as old as Albus, better get him home and tucked in bed.

I was sad at that and asked Grandfather if I would see him again, and he said probably not. He had taken a number of stimulants to be able to manage this evening, and tomorrow he expected to pay the piper. He told me to remember him as he was today and last week, and if one of his grandchildren remembered him fondly, that was all he could ask for. I hugged him again, and he told me to be a good boy, obey my professors, at least as long as they're looking, make the family proud, if if Voldemort does reappear, kick him once in the nadgers for him.

"There, Albus, I hope that answers your concerns." Professor Dumbledore nodded, and we all bade Grandfather goodnight and left. Remus said that I would be excused from classes tomorrow morning and that he would see me at lunchtime, and now here I am. everything I have everyone saying is as close as I can remember it, and I don't think I have ever stayed up this late in my life and I am going to sleep now. I'll think about it all in the morning.


	19. 6 August, 1991

**6 August 1991 Tuesday** at a reasonable hour in the morning

I need to think. I really need to think. I am really glad I have off from classes today (I already owled Remus asking if I could just have the whole day off and he said OK, and my being a bit overwhelmed was perfectly understandable and he'd see me tomorrow, and tomorrow's outing is going to be more recreational than educational, he promises). I've shut myself in my cupboard with a couple of bottles of water, a bowl of hardboiled eggs, a box of raisins, and my books on etiquette and politics and I'm not coming out until it all makes sense.

Or dinnertime, I guess.

Tango is out subduing the neighborhood. I'd say "surveying", but I've already seen numerous creatures fleeing in terror. I think he'll be Alpha predator by dinnertime, if he isn't already.

Argh. It's all so much. Who am I? Am I still even Harry Potter? Do I recognize this the Most Honorable, the Earl of Black and Viscount of Potter person at all?

Meditation is dead useful.

OK, so those were silly questions. Who am I? I'm the person who is asking the question. Which one is the real me? All of them. Or, like the end of _Witches Abroad_, where Granny Weatherwax's sister is faced with the hall of mirrors and when asked which one is the real her, wanders off alone and sad, but Granny Weatherwax just points at herself. I am I, I'm just a richer and better fed "me" lately.

So, new information. I think AP and UV are good examples of the Slytherin mindset, of two types. UV is the dumb kind of Slytherin and a wonderful example of an opportunist. AP is at least somewhat smart. I know I can't figure her out. How much of what I think I am getting away with does she actually know all about? Has she actually spent my entire childhood teaching me to live by the Eleventh Commandment on purpose?

Grandfather is, I think, an example of the very smart kind of Slytherin indeed. He wants me to care about him, and by extension the county (earldom?) and the family, and I do. I can see how scary he is to other people, though, and I have no idea how many people he has at his beck and call and how many plates he's juggling, even from his sickbed. And forcing all those Deatheaters to swear to me. Wow. With Professor Dumbledore of a zillion titles watching them, even. And saying to Mr. Malfoy, remember your oath, and then binding him as tightly as he did, that's got to mean something. I think reading up on the Malfoys is one of my top priorities.

Professor McGonnagle (PMM) is a hardass, pure and simple. Not an evil hardass, more like the naked sword of justice. She asks a lot of everyone, and I bet she demands even more of herself. I respect her a lot already, and I know I trust her. I think I like her too, but that's harder to tell. I wonder what she's like when she's drunk?

Mr. Hagrid I only met the once, but I could tell that he's a kind and compassionate sort and a wonderful friend to have. He might be smarter and less obvious than he appears, though. I will have to get to know him better. Even if he is sneaker than he looks, I know he's the sort to bandage hurt puppies and pull thorns out of the paws of lions.

Professor Snape (PSS) is another Slytherin and I don't think he hates me anymore. I have no idea what his connection to the house of Black is, and I'm not sure he'd tell me. I think even when I am Lord Black it would behoove me to be very polite to him. Of course, I don't plan on being rude to anyone, but I don't think assuming that since I'm Lord Black, he'll do what I ask and answer all my questions would be very healthy for me. I do want to get to know him better, though. He was my mother's best friend once, and I can see where he must have been a fascinating person to talk to.

Speaking of fascinating to talk to, I would love to attend an Ambrose family reunion. Mrs. Figg knows so much, and she's not even the researcher in her family... Or is she? I don't actually know what she does with her days. She hasn't really changed since I found out about magic, though, just I know more about her now. She's still my pretend grandmother.

Professor Dumbledore (PD) is another complicated person. He has some authority over Mrs. Figg, so he was probably in that secret organization too, and Grandfather said his views of darkness aren't terribly nuanced, but he knows about chthonic, so he can't be completely unreasonable. The question is, how much do I believe of what Grandfather said? I think Grandfather is at least as likely to massage the truth a bit to make it look better as I am.

Anyway, PD is the headmaster of Hogwarts and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot as well as leading the International Council of Wizards. Not surprising he forgot all about me, really, he must be horribly busy. I wonder how much he delegates? Once school starts, I probably won't see too much of him, though, so I probably don't need to spend a lot of time trying to figure him out.

Remus Lupin. Very nice guy, lots of empathy, really smart, not a leader. Apparently once all his best friends were dead or in prison and I disappeared from the magical world, he took off for the continent and hadn't been back at all until now. I gather he was in France or Germany. I think I trust him to be kind to me and do what his boss tells him. Hmm, if I become Lord Black, would that be me? I'll have to ask him. If I can keep him on the payroll and therefore around, I'd definitely like to. And he is the only person I can ask why I had no medical records and nobody took me to the hospital that night. And besides, I like him. He's warm and he has a great sense of humor and we have a lot of fun together. Everybody can't be the take charge type.

I think the various retainers hanging around Grandfather's coach weren't all coachmen, considering some of the questions they answered. I am very nervous about inheriting the well-oiled machine that is Lord Black's ... erm, retinue? Network? Vast all-encompassing web? I've got Mr. Malfoy as my regent and Aunt Cassiopeia (AC) as my proxy. Hopefully I can learn from them. I wonder if Mrs. Malfoy is going to be like AC when she's older?

And I already wrote everything I know or surmise about AC and Mr. Doge - who is another person I can learn from, come to think of it. I wonder if he has any good stories about what it was like back when he and PD were in school?

AC is definitely going to stay AC. Cassiopeia is hard to spell.

Grandfather is going to die before I finish school. Probably even... No, I'm not going to write that. But that means in school my friends will call me "Harry" and everyone else will call me "Black". That'll be different. I wonder what the professors will call me? They're hardly going to call me Lord Black, that would ruin the idea that all school kids are equal, and under the authority of he professors. Mr. Black wouldn't be right, though. Maybe I'll be Harry, Black, and Mr. Potter? Much less confusing with people like Nott, whose name matches his title.

Hmm. Who else. Neville, Susan and Hannah. I think they're my first friends. And I remembered that I can't date Hannah either, as she's an Abbott and so was my great grandmother. I know Grandfather only specified names on the Black family tree, but taking the Potter family tree into account makes sense, and besides, there are so few names on it. Great great grandmother was a Prewitt, and there aren't any of them anywhere near my age. Great great great grandmother was a Selwyn, and there aren't any of those, period. Great great great great grandmother was a Flamel, and I really don't think it's worth looking back any farther than that.

But I trust Neville, Susan and Hannah to be exactly who they seemed to be last week. It will be nice to know someone on the train, and I ought to be able to recognize Draco too. I can't draw any conclusions at all about him, though. That wasn't a place to get to know people, although, come to think of it, Cedric is probably much like he was last night all the time. He's what I imagined an ooftytoof to be like.

Am I forgetting anyone? I didn't get to know Mr. Tate or Lady Longbottom at all, although I imagine I will know them better by the end of summer. Prefect Jones I only saw from across the room. (Her, I know I'm not related to, but I imagine she'll have someone picked out already before I'm old enough to think about dating. Pity Draco doesn't have a little sister. No, wait, his mother's a Black, so that doesn't work either.) Ditto for the Patil twins, except them I could date... Well, not both at once. That's more like something from a bad porno. Am I forgetting anyone?

Sirius Black. He's a bit of a mystery. He was a Gryffindor and my father's best friend, he was burned off the tapestry for being a blood traitor, but he wasn't disinherited until Grandfather found me, and he wasn't disowned like Bellatrix. Why did he betray my parents? His younger brother was a Deatheater and it's assumed that Voldemort killed him. Maybe they said, talk, or your brother gets it? If that's not it, what happened? I don't believe he faked being friends for seven years, so something must have. But from what everyone tells me, he didn't look like he'd been captured and tortured when he was arrested later that night, so that idea's out too. Maybe on one of our outings I can look at his trial transcript. And I should look at Mr. Malfoy's too, while I'm at it, see who I'm dealing with.

I think the biggest change is that, other than "off to Hogwarts" I don't know where I'm going now. No, wait, I know I am going to be Lord Black. Last night made that very clear. That's where I'm going. So what I need to do now is learn what I need to to be good at it. (Why does that sentence sound perfectly good in my head and so awkward on paper?) If the Blacks as as rich as all that, I need to go back to trying to make sense of LIBOR and PIBOR and all that economic stuff that I'd written off before. Better get back to my newspaper reading... Hey, is there a wizard newspaper? I'm effectively an MP as soon as I grow up, so it would be good to follow the political situation, as well as seeing if there's a wizard financial world that I need to know about. And if I really am going to wield all the influence Grandfather said, maybe I can do something to make the magical world less likely to produce Deatheaters.

So, I guess I have a plan, then. Learn everything I need to know to be a good Lord Black. And get married and have a ton of kids so the line doesn't die out after me. It's sad, so very many Blacks, and now the only men left are very sick or imprisoned for life. But then the Selwyns are down to the hope that Luna has children, so that family's definitely even worse off. And Cedric Diggory is the heir of the Lestranges, so all three counties, earldoms, whatever, are passing out of the hands of the families who started them. And Draco is heir to the Rosiers, so there's one barony passing to a new family as well.

And that's not even taking into account how many of the Ancient houses have or are going to die out. And all because Voldemort wanted to take over Britain and make the world safe for purebloodcracy. Hmm. Was Voldemort a blithering idiot, or were his real goals different from his stated ones? He never posed any real threat to muggleborns or halfbloods in general, even if he was very bad for specific ones. Non-purebloods can disappear into muggle society or say sod this and emigrate. Purebloods are the ones who are stuck, and the war was wholesale pureblood slaughter. But then, he was winning when my mother took him out. He might have just thought it was a make omelette, break eggs thing.

Anyway, I need to use the loo and then start reading up on the Malfoys.

Oh. _Shite_. Mr. Malfoy must _hate_ me.


	20. Seven through Ten August, 1991

**7 August 1991 Wednesday**

Today was fun, just like Remus promised. We explored Ottery St. Catchpole so I could see what a part-wizard, part normal village is like without having to deal with someplace as fraught as Godric's Hollow. (Remus tells me there's a monument to my parents and me there, and it gives him the creeps.) It's a lovely little town, and the one pub has two public rooms so drunk wizards don't have to worry too much about shocking the locals (although Remus says in any of these villages the old folks know something's up and always have). There's an owlry off the Post Office, and Cedric Diggory's mother is the postmistress for the town.

We met up with Cedric Diggory and Luna Lovegood for lunch, and also Ginevra Weasley, who is a shy little scrap of a thing, hardly said two words, and Percival Weasley, who said he rather likes being called "Percival" actually, but please to call him Percy or his brothers would never stop taking the mickey. Apparently the twins (and Percy looked like he loved the idea of me calling Fred, Frederic, but warned me it would be better not to) are infamous pranksters/practical jokers. I asked, and Percy said that the jokes they pull _at school_ are always lighthearted and most people think they're pretty funny, and they'll target anybody, or of a preference everybody, so no one takes it personally. I asked how you prank an entire school at once, and Percy said I'd probably have friends for life if I asked them. I noticed the stress on "at school" though.

It was a nice lunch. We had sandwiches, biscuits, and orange squash, and then Remus took Percy, Cedric and me to a Quidditch game. Remus sat back and let Percy and Cedric explain the game to me. Percy doesn't play except family pick-up games, but all his brothers do, and Cedric is Seeker for Hufflepuff. I slipped and referred to it as ooftytoof once during the conversation. Cedric laughed and Percy wanted to know what we were talking about, but then once I explained, he worked out how it's probably spelled (which I've forgotten already).

It was fun to watch, if a bit dizzying. I asked if wizards are sturdier than normal people (and then resolved never ever to say that in wizard company again, even though they were very nice about it) cos some of the injuries I saw ought to have been fatal, and were treated as minor inconveniences. Turns out, yes, we are. Our magical core protects and heals us, although if it has to do too much protecting and healing there's not a lot left for spellcasting.

During halftime, Percy and Remus got to swapping horror stories of being a Griffindor prefect. Cedric shook his head and said that Hufflepuffs are pretty tame compared to that, but they have things like Talent Night and Milk and Biscuits Night (the latter is when everyone in Hufflepuff comes to the common room in their robes and pyjamas and anybody who wants to reads a favorite story, while the house elves provide lots of milk and biscuits). I was wishing there was someone from Ravenclaw and Slytherin here so we could find out what interesting things they do. Percy said something about "Competitive backstabbing" and Cedric punched him in the shoulder and said, "Now Perce, be nice!"

Cedric is actually in the same year as the twins, but he and Percy have always hung out because Percy's odd man out in his family and because the twins never needed any more friends than each other when they were little, and they still complete each other's sentences, apparently. I asked odd man out how? And Percy told me that generally every Weasley you add to a room doubles the noise level, and when you get the whole family in one place, it's pretty chaotic. He said, I should understand, he does love his family, but they can be pretty overwhelming, and while Bill and Charlie study, or they did, they're done school now, he's the only real bookworm in the family. He said that they'll tell me that he's a bit of a prig, but he just prefers people to follow rules because it's generally quieter and less chaotic that way.

Cedric's an only child, so he's used to quiet and order, he said. The twins definitely liven things up, and this summer they started experimenting with making fireworks. Percy shuddered when he said that. I asked them which house they thought I would be in, and they both said "Ravenclaw" although Percy considered and said "Or maybe Slytherin" as I had a good eye for the nuances of human interaction (and he said it just like that too; he quite likes big words) and he said just between the four of us, the, and then he paused like he'd been about to say something he shouldn't, well, he'd been told he would have done well in Slytherin himself, but he was terrified of what his brothers would say. Cedric smiled and said there was never even a question that he would go to Hufflepuff, and Remus said he'd also been considered for Ravenclaw. Percy noted the irony of being placed in Griffindor because you're too scared to go anywhere else, and I said if he was placed in Griffindor, he must have vast hidden reserves, and obviously he does, because if I had two younger brothers experimenting with fireworks, I'd be stark staring mad by now. Cedric asked how I knew he wasn't and then Percy punched him in the shoulder and said "Now Ced, be nice!"

All in all it was a grand day out. The Holyhead Harpies won and I got to put my foot in it with a forgiving audience. I knew I was going to like Cedric, and I enjoyed meeting Percy. Remus said that I'd be in school with most of the Weasleys, but he figured it would be best to start in small doses and the two I met were both the age mates of the people he'd already invited, and the quietest ones of the lot. Percy asked if that was an example of damning with faint praise.

We all stopped for butter chicken at the Indian takeaway and sat and ate it picnic-style on the common. It was nice.

When I got home, I'd already eaten dinner, so I came upstairs, read a bit more of my politics book and was thankful for the ironclad oath my grandfather made Mr. Malfoy take and wondered if he could find some way of killing me anyway. Probably, so I need to find a way to convince him that he benefits _more_ from me staying alive before he finds it. Hopefully it will take him more than a month to think of it because I haven't a clue.

And Tango says he needs brushing now, so I'll leave off.

**8 August 1991 Thursday**

I got an owl from Neville asking if I could bring a few records tomorrow and would my aunt let me stay over? AP said yes, of course, and Remus and I went record shopping after classes. I checked with Remus, and yes, he means records, wizards haven't quite got CD players worked out yet. So I now am the proud owner of _Dire Straits_ (their first album was self-titled), _Communique_, _Making Movies_, and _Brothers In Arms_ (I couldn't find _Love Over Gold_ or _On Every Street_ on vinyl, although I picked up the latter on CD, along with a CD Walkman). I picked up _Missing... Presumed Having a Good Time_ as well, despite never having heard of it, because the record store clerk said the Notting Hilbillies were another Mark Knopfler project. And I figured while we were out I would get some muggle snacks, so I grabbed a couple of boxes of chocolate-covered McVities, some Mars bars, and as many flavors of potato crisps as I could find. And then I figured, what's a music party without fizzy drinks, so we got some of those too. I feel a little odd spending money, but it's mine, I can, and it's not like I'm wasting it, exactly. I'll probably leave the records with Neville though, if he likes them, and pick up CDs later. I can call it a belated birthday present, and if he says he didn't get me anything, I'll point out that he's the one throwing the party.

I had classes today too. We brewed. Remus is a nut, and he makes insane funny faces.

Dinner was a casserole AP discovered in a magazine somewhere. It had cream soup and green beans and chicken with fried onion bits on top. UV wasn't so sure about it, but Dudley and I loved it.

And then after dinner, Dudley and I hung out in his room and listened to my new records on his player. That's one for the record books. And we even had fun, and he let me have a go at some of his video games, although the fact that he beat the pants off me certainly didn't hurt there. I didn't even have to try to let him win since I'd never done this before and he's been playing forever. It'll be fun to get to school, though, and find people I'm allowed to beat at things.

And now Tango says I should be sleeping. He sure is a bossy cat.

**10 August 1991 Saturday**

I didn't bring my journal with me, so I want to get everything that happened Friday and today written down before I forget, except that I also kinda don't. I've been putting off sitting down and writing for hours now and there was stuff I want to remember, but I messed up. In front of Lady Longbottom. AGAIN. She's going to hate me and think I'm a bad influence on Neville and not let him hang around me anymore, although Neville says not to worry about it, and that if he'd known I'd never eaten duck before, he'd have warned me how rich it is. I don't know, though, I could see her looking at me on Saturday, and I know she was wondering if she wanted to bother inviting me back.

But, you know what? This is my journal, and if I don't want to write about something, I don't have to. So there.

We started out Friday with some class work instead of heading straight over to Longbottoms' like we did last time. We did a refresher on introductions and precedence and ...

And PD and Remus just apparated over. Grandfather just died. I need to go.


	21. Seventeen August, 1991

**17 August 1991 Saturday**

It has been quite a week. There was preparing for the funeral and the funeral itself, and the investiture and the naming of the regent, and let's not forget the zoo that the reading of the will turned into, and I'm not even going to _try_ to explain it all. I doubt I'll ever forget it, and nobody who reads this in the future really needs to know the details. They'd probably enjoy details of the will reading, but I'm not up to going into them. Maybe someday.

And now I am the Right Honorable, the Earl of Black and Viscount of Potter. I am only eleven. I don't think it is physically possible for me to father children, I sure as anything don't want to ask, and any female willing to try with me I'd really have to wonder about. That said, I feel like running out and starting, oh, I don't know, yesterday? Despite oaths, I don't think naming Draco as my heir would be good for my longevity... Neville! Perfect. He's part Black too, and I'm part Longbottom, and even better, he's unlikely to want to kill me for the title. I should check his family tree and see if he's part Potter, although with my family's propensity for only sons, that seems unlikely. Well, assuming no one kills me by Monday, I'll take care of that then.

And I've definitely had meetings with various goblins about finances, and AC and Mr. Doge about the Wizengamot proxies, and Mr. Malfoy about, well, everything. I don't think he's likely to have me killed anytime soon, and Grandfather made good and sure that I know where all the various bits of blackmail material on everyone are, and we don't have any hostages at present, for which I am incredibly grateful. I wouldn't want to have hostages, but I wouldn't have the least idea how to release them and not have the consequences be disastrous.

And Mr. Malfoy said that I really shouldn't worry, as Grandfather would never have named him regent if Draco had been the heir, so he never would have had the Black estates and network anyway, and at least this way he gets to play with them for a while. He looks like he's looking forward to the challenge, and to teaching me how to navigate the whole mess. Now I just need to figure out how much I can trust him and in what ways.

Did I already say I was only eleven? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa! How am I supposed to maintain the power and prestige of the richest and most connected family in the wizarding world? Even if I don't trust Mr. Malfoy, I should trust Grandfather to have pulled his fangs, right?

One interesting thing: Uncle Vernon insisted that the entire family attend the funeral to show respect. I'm sure it was really so he could say he'd been there, but I'll take it. They sat with me and really looked like they were being supportive of me in my grief (more like shock, really), and I think Aunt Petunia might have actually been trying to be for real. They wore full formal non magical funeral garb, I got kitted out in robes that get kept in a stasis box since they're only needed once a generation or so. I would have looked pretty regal if I weren't so short. And Neville and his grandmother came, and Lady Bones and Susan, and Lord Abbott and Hannah, all to show support for me, and Professor Dumbledore said that none of those three families would have ever showed up at a Black funeral before, and never in the history of magical Britain have muggles attended the funeral of the Earl of Black openly as muggles as anything other than servants.

There was a lot of food. I stuck with hardboiled eggs. I met tons of people. I had Remus next to me the entire time taking notes for me.

I've hired Remus as a combination tutor, bodyguard, and personal secretary. The bodyguard part sounds funny, but I found out when I was talking about hiring him that he is a werewolf. He thought I wouldn't want anything to do with him once I found out, but he takes all the proper precautions, and Grandfather made monthly wolfsbane part of his salary, so I don't see why it should matter. Either way, even when he's not a werewolf, he's a kickass duelist.

Actually, finding out Remus is a werewolf explains a lot. He's not the alpha wolf himself, so he needs one. And now I'm the cub who's growing into the Alpha.

I also had a very long talk with Professor Snape. He told me about growing up with my mother and his problems with my father and the other Marauders and about Sirius' attempt at murder by werewolf, and how he was sworn never to tell anyone about it unless they already knew Remus was a werewolf. And the fight with my mother and her not accepting apologies, and his joining the Deatheaters and reporting the prophecy that led to their death. This was way more than I ever expected to get in the way of details from him, but he said that if he told me all of it himself, he knew in what way the information was being presented and this way none of it could be used as blackmail material.

We also talked about life debts, since he has one to my father because he kept him from being werewolf food, and then he caused my father's death. But I pointed out that if I understood things right, and please correct me if not, the House of Black owes him a debt because the heir tried to kill him. We pondered that for a bit, because while the Blacks have tried to kill many people over the years, usually they succeed, so the question doesn't come up. But if he owes me for having accidentally gotten my parents killed (and I'm hardly going to blame him for not being able to mourn my father's death - if I accidentally killed Piers, I'd feel horrible for having killed someone, but I wouldn't particularly mind that it was him), and the House of Black owes him for trying to kill him, and I am the House of Black, then it seemed like they ought to cancel out. And besides, Sirius is just as guilty of my parents' deaths, if not more so, because Voldemort (which name I will try to remember never to use in front of Professor Snape again) would never have been able to find them if he hadn't told them, and the Dark Lowlife is the most guilty because he could always have NOT gone about killing people instead.

Professor Snape thinks my theory that the Dark Loser had other goals than his stated ones is very interesting. So obvious once it's pointed out, but it never seemed to occur to anyone. Which leaves the question of did the Dark Lunkhead have any good reasons for wanting to destroy wizarding Britain and kill off its noble houses? It's an interesting topic for research. Professor Snape says he thinks he will be welcoming me into his house in a few weeks, and it might be a good idea to try to make friends with Draco. Did I already know Professor Snape was the head of Slytherin? I must have, but it had completely slipped my mind.

Anyway, I talked to Mr. Malfoy about getting to know Draco better, and he and I are going to get together for flying lessons on Monday. Draco, I mean, not Mr. Malfoy. I somehow doubt he needs too many lessons in anything.

Tomorrow, though, I am getting together with Neville and Hannah and Susan and Cedric and Percy and Luna (I guess Ginny didn't want to come). They were going to bring Ron instead, but he said something mean to Luna, so he's staying home. Percy says I shouldn't judge him badly, Ron means well, but sometimes his temper gets away from him, and for some reason he and Luna have never gotten along. No agenda at all for tomorrow, just everyone figured after the week I've had, it would do me good to unwind with friends. Hmm.

OK, it's all taken care of. Millicent Bulstrode is the only one of my cousins I haven't met yet, so I asked Remus if he could invite her for me. He thought that was a good idea and flooed her an invitation straight off, and she and her parents said yes, so she'll be coming too. And this time we're getting together at the Bones estate, because they have a pool. Susan is really looking forward to showing us around, and they have a big hedge maze that should be a lot of fun to explore.

Hmm. It just occurred to me, Cedric and Percy are a lot older than the rest of us, wont they be bored? Well, OK, I can't imagine Cedric being bored, he seems to like everyone. But is this really Percy's sort of party? I'll ask him.

Hee! Owls aren't as convenient as telephones, but they are still pretty darned cool, and good company too. And Tango and Hedwig don't seem to have felt a need to establish a pecking order, thank goodness. And Professor Dumbledore said I could bring both, if I was willing to share use of Hedwig's services with Ron and Neville, since they both have non-owl pets too.

And Percy says that he realizes that eight children in a swimming pool will get rather loud, but he can handle it, and besides, we need someone sensible to keep an eye on things. And, more seriously (that last bit was teasing), he never gets invited to parties, so he's quite looking forward to it. So that's that then.

Now I'm imagining Professors Snape and McGonnagle in bathing suits. Dunno where that thought came from. I think I shall not mention that idea to _anyone_, cos I'd hate to have it get back to them. And our adult chaperones are going to be Lady Bones and Hannah's mother, anyway.

And Tango says he hasn't been brushed in _days_, and it might have been about that long since he was fed, too, and I _have_ been neglecting him awfully this week.

Tomorrow is going to be such fun!


	22. Eighteen August, 1991

**18 August 1991 Sunday**

Wheeeee! I am happy! Tired, full, still a bit damp, and happy.

This morning I was afraid that by saying it was going to be fun, I had jinxed things, but it was wonderful. I like Millicent. She's a big, strong, solid girl, and a bit shy, although nothing like as bad as Ginny Weasley (poor kid!), but Susan is kind of round too, and so is Neville, and Neville's also shy, and Hannah and Susan together could make rocks comfortable and talkative. They had Millie hanging out with us and telling us about herself in less than ten minutes.

We decided it would be fun to collect birthdays. I think Lady Bones is the oldest, but we didn't ask the grown ups for birth years. Susan, Millie, and Hannah all agreed that you never ask a lady her age. Luna said it would attract wrackspurts. (If Luna weren't off the list, I'd marry her tomorrow. She's fun.)

So, birthdays:

Amelia Susan Bones 20 September

Farrah Compton Abbott 29 September

Remus John Lupin 10 March 1960

Percival Ignatius Weasley 22 August 1976

Cedric Paul Diggory 1 October 1977

Millicent Amelie Bulstrode 11 December 1979

Hannah Rachel Abbott 18 March 1980

Susan Eleanor Bones 7 July 1980

Neville Winston Longbottom 30 July 1980

Harry James Potter 31 July 1980

Luna Shaula Lovegood 16 September 1980

We decided that this had to be Percy's early birthday party, which made him blush horribly, and the girls thought that was the cutest thing ever, so they gave him a group hug and then he panicked and said "Aah! Not in bathing suits, it's not proper!" and we all laughed and Cedric and the grownups and then the rest of us assured him we weren't laughing at him. Luna said that Percy looked like good husband material, so the girls had better get their bids in early, and Percy blushed some more and spluttered and said we were a little young, and Luna said, "Ah, but we will get older, and you are getting younger."

So we sent Remus out to get a cake. He wanted to get chocolate, but Percy said his favorite was strawberry, if nobody minded. Mrs. Abbott told Remus to go get a beautiful strawberry cake and a dozen chocolate fairy cakes, so he went off shopping and we played in the pool after all the girls stopped and braided their hair. Neville and I sighed and looked at each other, but the girls said if you don't, your hair gets all in your face and it's no fun.

We played water polo. Millicent, Hannah, and Neville were the biggest, so they got to be the horses. Susan rode Hannah, Luna rode Millicent, and I rode Neville. (I'm the smallest. Humph.). We started by passing a ball around, and then we were jousting instead, and I swallowed a lot of water and had to get pounded on the back. It turns out I'm the only one who doesn't know how to swim, so when Remus came back, he said he'd work on giving me swimming lessons and said as he recalled, the prefect's bath has a tub the size of a small swimming pool. Percy said yes it does, and he'd be happy to help.

There were too many of us for tennis, so Hannah taught us all how to play volleyball. We started out with even teams and ended up all of us younger kids against Cedric and Percy. Cedric's amazing. If I liked blokes, he'd be the sort I liked. He was everywhere at once and I swear at one point I saw Mrs. Abbott fanning herself. (Lady Bones teased her that he's only thirteen, but Mrs. Abbott said that you could see the beginnings of what he's going to become.) He almost beat us all by himself. (Percy did help, he's just not sure of himself, so he thinks too much and you could tell he didn't want to get banged up. Cedric was a mass of scrapes by the time were were done and laughing his head off.)

After that, Cedric and Remus played tennis. That was awesome. Remus looks like a little mousy guy, but he's quite fit, really, and both of them are really competitive. Mrs. Abbott was definitely fanning herself by the time that was done, and Lady Bones took a bunch of pictures. (She took pictures of the volleyball game too, but I was too busy to notice.)

Then we decided we were hungry and Remus healed Cedric's and the rest of our scrapes. Lady Bones was running the grill and there were all sorts of things to cook on it, even peaches and pineapple and ears of maize. I had skewers of meat and vegetables (NO BEETROOT!) and some of the fruit and I tried butterbeer (Yum!) and then we had cake and sang happy early birthday to Percy and watched him blush. I didn't realize that wizards are all grown up at 17. That means Percy's only got two years to go now.

The cake was beautiful. It was pink with bits of strawberries in it, with mounds of fluffy white icing and strawberry fans. I mentioned that I knew how to make them, so I taught everybody, even the grownups, and decided to ask Professor Snape if it was something that could be useful in ingredient prep.

We decided that since we didn't know it was Percy's birthday so we didn't have any presents, we would just adopt him as our older brother, or well, Neville, Millie and I did. Susan, Hannah, and Luna said they wanted to keep their options open, since you can't _marry_ your _brother_ and Percy blushed again and said he wasn't sure getting us as siblings was a present. Cedric said to think how much less trouble we'd be than the brothers he had now and he said "There is that."

Lady Bones said that she was fairly sure she could talk Madame Marchbanks into a relaxation of the rules on underage sorcery for the afternoon and offered to let Cedric and Percy do some showing off. Percy wasn't sure, but Susan says if the head of the DMLE says you can do it, it's not against the rules, kind of by definition. Percy thought about that for a bit and a lady Bones walked off and came back a minute or two later with a very old witch in light green summer robes, whom she introduced as Madam Marchbanks, who told Percy, "All right, young man, let's see what you can do."

So Percy and Cedric and with a bit of coaxing Remus showed off for a bit. The others are probably used to that sort of thing, but I was entranced, and from the looks of things, Neville was too. Neville said that his grandmother, aunt and uncle don't do fancy magic, just practical stuff, and they didn't laugh much. After a bit, Cedric convinced Percy and Remus to do an exhibition duel, Cedric and Percy vs. Remus, and Lady Bones and Madame Marchbanks and Remus talked for a bit on the rules. They agreed on a bunch of jinxes that if they missed and hit one of us, we wouldn't be hurt. I only remember the Jellylegs Jinx and the Leg Locker Curse, but that's partly cos Neville got hit by a stray Jellylegs. Remus wiped the floor with them, and then took them aside to discuss gaps in their education, while Madame Marchbanks taught how to dispell most minor spells and how to cast Lumos. She also said that Neville's wand was obviously unsuited to him, and that she would have a word with Augusta. We had Neville try all our wands, and it looked like unicorn hair suited him the best. Mine didn't work for him at all. Lady Bones said once was all right, but we should avoid swapping wands around during the bonding process, and that afterwards we would want to be cautious about it because some wands bite.

Cedric and Percy came back telling Remus that he would make a brilliant DADA teacher and that Professor Dumbledore should hire him.

After that, we all sat around with butterbeers and talked while we waited for various parents to show up. Neville told us that he's actually really afraid of the water, cos his uncle threw him off the pier at Blackpool once and he nearly drowned. We all agreed that was awful, and once the purebloods explained why someone would do that, we also agreed that it was much better to be a squib than to be dead, and that Neville was the bravest of all of us and obviously a Griffindor. Susan and Hannah are sure they're going to be Hufflepuffs, Luna doesn't know, but we think Ravenclaw. Millie wants to be the first Halfblood Minister for Magic, so she's obviously a Slytherin (and we all volunteered to be part of her campaign staff) and I said I didn't know, but Hufflepuff's Milk and Biscuits Nights sounded awfully tempting. Everyone thinks I am going to be a Ravenclaw, though, except Percy, so we have three Hufflepuffs, two Griffindors, and either two Ravenclaws and one Slytherin or one Ravenclaw and two Slytherin, so we're a pretty well-balanced group.

Remus came over to talk to us and said that for the last two dance groups, we wanted to have four couples, so would Millie and Luna like to join the group? He'd been thinking of asking the Patil twins, but since the two of them have already been adopted and all... Luna said it sounded like fun, as she loved dancing but had never tried it with a partner before, let alone with seven of them. He said that he'd already asked a couple of boys our age, one from our class and one from Luna's, as he hadn't foreseen us adopting Cedric and Percy, but they said that was all right, because they had a bunch of stuff to do to prepare for school. Susan and Hannah pouted and said _they_ wanted to dance with _Percy_, and Luna sort of twinkled at him, and he blushed some more. Remus said he thought we'd like the other boys too. One of them is Ernie MacMillan, who is a distant relative, at least for me, and the other is Adam Shacklebolt. He said he thought we might find Adam interesting because he is a pureblood who attended muggle public school and plays a really mean guitar. Ernie's older sister is the MacMillan heir and he likes reading and Quidditch. The girls agreed that Adam definitely sounds interesting, and it would be nice to meet another relative and member of our class. Percy said he felt really guilty not suggesting his brother, but he wasn't sure dancing and etiquette were really Ron's strongpoints, and besides, he rather liked having something away from all his brothers even if it is just us infants.

So of course us infants threw him in the pool. He sputtered at Cedric for not helping, but Ced was practically falling on the ground laughing and once he could breathe again he said he thought the gang of infants was really good for him. Remus pointed at that at some points the amount of noise we were making rivaled that of a Weasley gathering and that Percy was right in there rough housing with the rest of us, even if he was a bit quieter and more careful. Percy blushed a bit but looked a little thoughtful at that, and said that we were friendlier than his brothers, and we didn't tease him for using big words. Luna said they were _his_ words, and therefore we could only tease him if he was instead trying to use someone else's. Did I mention that I want to marry Luna? Maybe I could convince whoever decides these things that our _second_ son could be the Earl of Selwyn. I think Luna knew I was thinking about her, because she smiled at me.

Millie's parents showed up about then, so Remus asked about our dance group. They looked surprised and said of course, and would she need dress robes. He said he thought it might be fun for all of us who had them to wear them for our last meeting on the 30th and we decided (or the girls did and Neville and I went along with it, but I don't think we mind that much) that this could be a celebration of the end of our young childhoods and the eve of our going to Hogwarts. Hannah and Susan asked if all the girls could go shopping together, and they said if all the other parents agree, then yes.

Percy's parents showed up just as we were finishing with that, so we did another round of introductions and they and Remus took the Ottery St. Catchpole contingent home. (Millie lives right in Hogsmeade, which we all think is brilliant.) Neville's grandmother came, and we did our bows, and she actually smiled and said it was wonderful to see Neville so happy, and that Madame Marchbanks had convinced her to take Neville to Ollivander's, although she still didn't like the idea. (I never even noticed Madame Marchbanks leaving.)

After they left, it was just me and Susan and Hannah and her mother and Lady Bones, and we all just sat around and munched on pieces of grilled fruit and waited for Remus to come back. And then Remus took me home and here I am and wow, what a day. And tomorrow I learn to fly with Draco. I do hope he forgives me.


	23. Nineteen August, 1991

**19 August 1991 Monday**

I got up early this morning to write a long letter to Mrs. Figg cos I felt like I hadn't seen her in forever. And then I had a brilliant idea, so I also sent a letter to Lady Bones. I've got the beginnings of a great list of birthdays, and Lady Bones took all those pictures, maybe we could get a calendar printed up. Wizards have printed calendars with pictures, right?

I want to invite Mrs. Figg to our party. She should meet my friends.

When Remus came to pick me up, he said that Ernie has dragon pox, and while he'll be all right in time for school, he won't be able to join the dance group. I wrote him a get well letter and said I was sorry he'd have to miss out, but I looked forward to meeting him on the train. And I told Remus that I was meeting Draco today, maybe he'd like to come. He probably knows all about dancing, from what I've read about the Malfoys, but it should still be fun. Remus said he wasn't sure Lady Longbottom would let any Malfoys into her house, but I said with Lucius sworn to me, they couldn't be evil anymore, and either way, Draco was a baby back then, just like Neville and I were, and it wasn't fair to blame him. Remus said "We'll see." He said inviting Mrs. Figg was fine, though, and he was sorry he hadn't thought of it. I said once I got to Hogwarts, I wanted Mrs. Figg to be at anything the school had that calls for parents, and Remus said he'd look into it.

In the morning we worked on penmanship, calligraphy, and rune writing. Remus is concerned about me bringing my silver pen to school because for one, someone might nick it (It's school, it happens), and for two, parts of it are plastic and he's heard that plastic degrades in a strong magical field. I decided I'd experiment with that by bringing a plastic toothbrush, and leave my pen at home.

Anyway, he had gone to an art store and bought me an old-fashioned artist's calligraphy pen, with a handle made of wood and a bunch of different metal nibs that I could swap in and out. He bought one for himself too, so he could try it, and we spent the morning experimenting with the various nibs. It was a lot of fun, and he said if he had known about these when he was in school, it would have made life so much easier.

After that, we had lunch. Kreacher is experimenting with learning to make Indian takeaway, so we had chicken vindaloo and basmati rice and naan and mulligatawny soup. It was excellent and we made sure to tell Kreacher so. I asked Remus if it's legal to use house elves in running restaurants, cos I think I could make the family another mint if I opened up a wizard Indian takeaway restaurant with Kreacher and helpers cooking. Remus said he'd look into it, and he honestly couldn't think of any place that did that, but if it was legal, I'd probably have bored elves lining up to work there. Kreacher said he wasn't sure he wanted to cook for strangers, and I said that was OK, I could live with keeping his cooking to myself.

Then I changed into respectable but not too fancy robes and trousers and we flooed to Malfoy manor. I had been expecting over the top opulence, and it didn't disappoint, marble and crystal and gilt everywhere. Mrs. Malfoy met us at the floo herself, with Draco, and we all did our bows and I asked everyone to please call me Harry. Draco replied with a request that I call him Draco, and Mrs. Malfoy asked me to call her Cousin Narcissa. Where AC is the High Priestess in the Tarot deck, Cousin Narcissa is the Empress. It is a pity they didn't have daughters.

Anyway, Cousin Narcissa shooed us both outside to get acquainted for a while and told us to be careful and not get too grubby. I followed Draco, since I wouldn't have a clue how to get around Malfoy Manor and as we were heading out, Draco said that his mother was joking, he never gets grubby. I nodded and said that he and Percy would probably get along; he's careful too. He asked me, Percy who, so I told him. He said he doesn't associate with _Weasleys_, with almost the same sneer that AP uses when talking to my father, or the way PSS says "Tuney." I probably looked at him funny, since I really wasn't expecting that, and said that was too bad. I'd only met two of them so far, and Ginny was so shy I couldn't really claim to _know_ her at all, but Percy's a good sort and really smart. Draco said that here are Purebloods and Purebloods, and I obviously wasn't meeting the right sort. I sighed and told him that I had dancing lessons with Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones, and that next week Millicent Bulstrode and Luna Lovegood would be joining us, and Adam Shacklebolt, and I was friends with Cedric Diggory too, and that we had been going to ask Ernie Macmillan, but he's sick and can't come, so I asked Remus if I could invite Draco instead.

Draco looked like he was trying to decide he was surprised and happy to be invited or insulted at being a replacement, and I said that Remus was the one making the guest list up until now, and he just didn't happen to think of Draco, but since Draco was the first person I saw on my family tree that I knew I wanted to meet (and I looked him straight in the eye as I said that), _I_ did.

He had to stop and think about that, and he allowed as how the Boneses and Longbottoms and Abbots and Shacklebolts were quite respectable, and he knows Cedric's father works for the ministry (and Cedric's the Lestrange heir), but he didn't recognize the name Bulstrode. I said there was a Bulstrode on the Black family tree, so I looked at the Bulstrode family tree and noticed that Millicent was our age and on one of the side branches, so I told Remus I wanted to meet her too. Why her first? Because we were down one girl for a party. Oh, well that's all right then.

Then I talked him into climbing a tree, because he said he never had, and I said it's fun and you can get away from people that way, cos nobody ever thinks to look up and anyway I bet him I could get higher faster than he could. There were some marvelous old beeches with thick branches just begging to be climbed, so we did. He won, and he figured out that I let him win and yelled at me and I told him I was impressed, he was the first person who ever noticed. Then he said this time didn't count, it was just practice, and we had to try again with a different tree. So we did, and I won, and he grinned at me and said that now when he beats me, he'll _know_ he's won. Otherwise, what's the point, and actually, considering, I could just order him to lose, and he'd have to.

So then we sat down and talked about Lords and clients and stuff, and I reminded him that I promised Gra... Erm, Lord Black that we'd be equals and Draco said that was just for school and he certainly didn't mean that I should be taking orders from Uncle Severus all my life. Professor Snape's his godfather. Huh. And he said it was fine that I call Lord Black Grandfather. Draco still has two living great-grandparents on his father's mother's side over in Iceland that his family visits at Midsummer. He also told me that they don't really have a statute of secrecy in Iceland. Doing noticeable magic in front of muggles Just Isn't Done, but everybody there believes in magic and magical creatures and _den Gamle Tro_, the Old Ways, anyway, and muggles leave out offerings for the tomten and stuff. I asked what tomten were, and he said they were kind of like free wild house elves. They still do work for people, even muggles, but you have to leave them offerings and be polite to them and work hard yourself. They look a bit more human than house elves, but he thinks they're probably related anyway.

And while we were sitting and talking, Cousin Narcissa and Remus came out, and she said, "Draco, look at you, you have bark in your hair," and the way she smiled at him, it was obvious she was proud of him, but he blushed, and he blushes even better than Percy does, and stammered and started to apologize, and she just laughed and called him a silly boy and told him it was good for him to get out and get moving and put some roses in his cheeks.

Draco asked his mother, if I was any good at flying, could we fly down to Oxneycaster so he could show me the village center, and she said, if Mr. Goyle says I'm good enough, yes, and Remus said if we did, he would come and keep an eye on us as well, and she said thank you and we went to the practice field.

Flying is brilliant! It's the best thing in the world, even better than mushrooms or chocolate mousse. Draco and I had a couple of races and played catch with a rubber ball and I think we nearly gave the adults heart attacks, cos they told us to stop doing that right now if we still wanted to go to the village.

The village was really nice, like something out of an old postcard, and I could see men plowing with heavy horses. Draco pointed out one farm and said that was Livingood Farm, and they're muggles and squibs, in fact other than farming, that's what the Livingoods do, adopt squibs from the Malfoys and any of the Malfoys' client families. I said I thought muggles were supposed to be filthy and inferior, and Draco said don't be ridiculous, these are _our_ muggles, it's not the same thing at all.

It was interesting exploring a village that, while it wasn't all magical, all the muggles there knew all about magic, they just keep the secret, and everybody celebrates the holidays together and stuff. I asked him, did he know about chthonic, and he said of course, that's what _den Gamle Tro __is_. Light is important, but dark is too. Things are born from the dark. If you put seeds in too much light, they die, but if you don't give them any at the right time they die too. It's all about balance and the turning of the wheel and he said I should come celebrate Yule with them, since the Blacks don't have their big Yule celebration anymore. I said when I grow up and get married, I want to start it up again and he said that would be great.

Jammy bugger has an understanding with a girl already. I said that's so not fair, the only girls I know are off the list. He asked what I meant, and I told him that Grandfather told me I couldn't marry anyone whose name showed up on my family tree, or Susan Bones, Honoria Macmillan, or Luna Lovegood. He nodded and said he could introduce me to a couple of girls, like Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and Tracy Davis and Morag MacDougal and he didn't think the Potters connected with any of those. He told me to stay far away from Belinda Yaxley, though, because she's crazy, and not the fun kind, the someday she's going to rip out your heart and eat it kind. I said, deal, no Yaxleys.

Then Remus and Mr. Goyle came and said it was really time to be heading back, so we did. Mr. Malfoy was just coming in by the floo as we were getting ready to leave, so we all did our bows and bade each other a good evening and I could hear Draco starting to tell his father about his day as we flooed out.

Dinner was corned beef and cabbage and mash and blackberry fool for pud, and I had return letters from both Mrs. Figg and Lady Bones when I got upstairs. Lady Bones says that sounds like a wonderful idea, and she will send copies of all the pictures for me, either by owl or in Susan's trunk.

And now I have brushed Tango and told him and Hedwig all about my day and I've showered and I'm ready to sleep. Tomorrow I am going to sit down and discuss a bit of business with UV. Now that I have things he wants, he's much easier to deal with.


	24. Twenty and Twenty-one August, 1991

**20 August 1991 Tuesday**

This morning instead of lessons, Remus sat me down to talk. He says I really have to stop obsessing about getting married. I'd find the right person at the right time, but at this time, I'm far too young. He also asked if I knew where babies come from. I said, duh, pregnant women. He asked me, true enough. So how do women _get_ pregnant.

I'd always been _meaning_ to look that up, really, just there were always more interesting questions. I know it takes a man and a woman, and they're supposed to be married but they don't have to be, and I think it involves sleeping, but maybe the man doesn't have to actually be there? Because I've heard AP sneer about young women who didn't know who the father was, and if the man had some active part in the process, wouldn't they know about it?

So Remus explained it to me. And then what it has to do with that bleeding stuff (literal bleeding, not swearing), and how you can not know who the father is. So is that what I saw those cats doing that time? Yes. Does that mean that AP and UV had to...? Yes. NAKED? Probably. That's the usual way. Yuck! And if I want children I have do do that, with a naked girl? Well, it has to be a woman. Girls can't have babies. What's the difference? That bleeding stuff. So to make babies, I have to get naked with a grownup. YUCK!

And that, Remus said, is why I should drop the idea for now. Sooner or later the thought of getting naked with a grownup won't be completely disgusting, and then it will be time to revisit the idea. Bother. I thought getting used to the idea of kissing was bad enough, and it would have been so nice to get the decision taken care of now, while I'm still young and sensible.

I said some of that to Remus and he asked what I meant exactly. I said that Mrs. Figg says that young girls can be very foolish in who they fancy, so I just wanted to get it taken care of now before I get foolish too (because she said that young men can be just as bad). Remus said he understood completely now and set me to doing penmanship exercises while he went to the loo. He was gone an awful long time. I hope he's not coming down with something.

So we spent the day discussing political alliances, mostly what families were associated with whom, and that most people who live in Oxneycaster, for instance, are clients of the Malfoys, but not necessarily all of them. Some of them are just people who like Oxneycaster (they're quite famous in the wizarding world for their Beltane celebration and for their mead) and want to live there, so they rent a place from Mr. Malfoy. He says he's heard that Mr. Malfoy actually charges very reasonable rent, so long as you're a pureblood. But there are muggles living there too. Yes, but you heard Draco, that's different, those are _our_ muggles. Strictly homegrown halfbloods would be considered shameful, but no worse than bastardry. (Then he explained what that means when you're using it literally.) And with the squib population the village has, no one born in the village who has magic would be considered a muggleborn, although sometimes there might be suspicions about the wife and one of the Malfoy men. And socially, no one raised in Oxneycaster can be considered a muggleborn, because they are raised in wizarding culture. I have to think about this some more.

And I helped AP with dinner and I made the chocolate mousse from memory! And everyone said it was wonderful!

After dinner, UV and I sat down and talked, mainly about the fact that I seem to own a number of grand houses and I wouldn't mind living in one, and I thought maybe UV might too, or would it be too weird living in a house that I own? Totally leaving the question of magic out of it, as not all of the houses are in magical areas. He said, that's a very interesting question, boy. A man's home is his castle and all that, and one does like to be the master of one's home. But you do own the places. And he shook his head and actually admitted he was torn between greed and pride. I said I was hoping we could work out a deal, and also, even with the freaky magic stuff, was it possible that the benefits of being able to say "My nephew, the earl" might help to make me a little more likable?

I didn't cry or look pathetic or anything, but he looked pretty uncomfortable anyway. I don't think he likes talking about or dealing with feelings any more than I do. And he cleared his throat and said that he had enjoyed taking me golfing and that I had the makings of a pretty good golfer, and if sometime when Dudley's busy, I wanted to go just the two of us, so he could see what I was really capable of... Gobsmacked. Definitely. I think my jaw hit my knees. He laughed at me and said he'd been playing golf for over thirty years, he could tell when someone was dogging it by now. And I thought I was being so slick. But I said that I wasn't going to go all mushy on him or anything, but I'd love to go golfing again, and it's such a beautiful course.

So then we spent the evening talking about the merits of the course, and UV told a bunch of golf stories, and now that I've had lessons and played, I could mostly follow them, and I found that if what I'm trying to do is understand a story that UV is telling, he actually _loves_ questions.

So life feels even more upside down than it did, and I think I'm going to need some time to think again soon and I feel good but kind of like crying at the same time, so I'm going to sleep now.

**21 August Wednesday**

Field trip day again. This time we braved Godric's Hollow, saw the horrid statue, and put flowers on my parents' grave, and Remus walked a bit away so I could talk to them. Mostly I talked to Dad, yelled at him for being such a sodding bully and didn't he realize other people were _people_? And I talked about what I'd heard about him from PSS, otherwise known as his _victim_, and from Mrs. Figg, and from PMM, who was his own head of house, and I asked Mom why did she marry him? Did he grow up? Did he start seeing other people as people and stop being so mean? Was he nice to us?

And I just ran out of things to say at that point and Remus came over and hugged me and I cried all over him, and he gave me his handkerchief when I was done and held me and said that, yes, Dad did grow up finally. He'd been a horribly spoiled child, although honestly less snotty about it than Draco, well most of the time. He and Severus just struck sparks off each other. But anyway, it took him a bit longer to grow up than some, but he got there and my mom grew to honestly like him, which is how they got together in the first place.

And Remus sat there on the ground with me in his lap and told me all the stories he could think of of good things my father had done and of what he was like when Lily was pregnant, and how thrilled he was when I was born, and how he bought me my first broom for my first birthday and Lily threatened to skin him (scary temper, your mother had!). And he told me silly stories about my parents and snowball fights and Autumn leaves and silly jokes on each other and I think maybe the biggest reason I was angry with my father was that he wasn't God, he wasn't perfect, and he wasn't here. I still have no desire to be just like him, but I can forgive _him_, at least as far as it's my place to, for being just like him. I can't forgive him for how he treated Severus back when he was Severus and not Professor Snape because that's not mine to forgive, but I can appreciate that at least he didn't want him to die. It's a small thing, but important.

So in the last two days I've made peace with my father and my uncle. I feel a bit wrung out, but I think I shall sleep well tonight.


	25. Twenty-two thru Twenty-four August, 1991

**22 August 1991 Thursday**

Ooh, tomorrow's dance day with the Infant Brigade! I hope Draco isn't too much of a snot. We have a good group, I'd hate to mess it up. But I think we might be good for him and I like him, despite his prejudices. I hope the others do too.

Class was class. Cousin Narcissa owled me a couple of pictures of me and Draco playing catch in the air. They're great, and I think I can see why the grownups were a bit nervous. I have got to show the pictures to the others.

UV and I sat and talked some more. I've owled the goblins for a list of my properties that are currently vacant, with as much detail and as many pictures as possible, and then he and I are going to narrow it down and then he and AP will talk.

Now I need to talk to Mrs. Figg. If we move, what happens to her? And I would hate it if she weren't nearby anymore, too. If she would let that organization buy her a house to keep an eye on me, would she let me buy her a house just to keep her around? But the cats might not like moving.

Yeah, maybe I should just talk to her instead of borrowing trouble.

And Tango is head butting me, so if I don't want a black eye or a concussion, I had better brush him now.

**23 August Friday**

That went pretty well. Draco didn't sneer too much, and nobody gave him a black eye or stormed off in a huff. I think Millie will do well in Slytherin, though. She can _definitely_ give as good as she gets.

And Shack (that's what he likes to be called) did really well for the only new guy in the group. Not shy, that one. Graceful, too. He'd never done any of the formal dances, but he took right to them. And Draco snuck in a couple of brooms, so we taught everyone to fly, right under the adults' noses and they never had a clue. And I know this time they weren't shamming it, except maybe Remus, because Lady Longbottom would have had kittens if she'd known we'd been teaching poor hopeless Neville (who isn't hopeless at all if you actually give him some encouragement and show him how to do things) to fly on an actual adult broom. Of course, the fact that I took Draco aside and reminded him that Neville is a member of a Noble and Most Ancient House and his blood is purer than Draco's, and if I hear him undermining Neville's confidence, I will punch his lights out didn't hurt. Although to his credit, Draco rolled his eyes at me and asked if he really looked that stupid. I grinned at him and he said that it might be someone else who got his bell rung if they didn't look out.

Dancing was even more fun with more people. We could switch about partners, and one time to goof around we just closed our eyes and partnered whoever we touched first, so now I can state on good authority that Shack can definitely dance - and that following is a lot harder than leading, which I told the girls when our dance was over. Millie said she definitely liked leading better. She and Luna really looked cute dancing together. I have this book about a girl who dresses up as a boy and goes off to be a knight and I could definitely see Millie doing that, even if pink is her favorite color. (Funny Neville ended up with Hannah again, anyway. Hidden depths, that man.)

I kind of wish school weren't starting right yet. We've only got the one week left, so it's a bit late to add more new people, but Draco has a few friends and girl-who-is-a-friend, Pansy, that he'd love to add to the group, and that would leave room for the Patil twins and poor Ernie. Granted that would be adding three couples and to even thing up we'd need another couple, but we could always ask Ronald Weasley and one of those girls Draco mentioned.

I asked Remus and Lady Longbottom if there was any way Ernie might be well enough to at least come and watch and make friends next week. I really hate that he's being left out. I also asked if there was any way we could keep up the group once we got to school. Remus said probably not, but Lady Longbottom looked like she'd had an inspiration and said she had to go make a few floo calls. When she came back, she said it was all settled, and our guest list for next week was as follows: boys - Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Ernest Macmillan, Draconis Malfoy, Harold Potter, Adam Shacklebolt, Ronald Weasley, Blaise Zabini, and of course Neville; girls - Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Millicent Bulstrode, Daphne Greengrass, Luna Lovegood, Morag MacDougal, Pansy Parkinson, Padma Patil, and Parvati Patil. That does give us one extra couple, but while Ernie won't be contagious anymore, he won't be well enough to dance, so that just leaves one of us to keep him company for each set. (Millie pointed out that it doesn't have to be one of the girls because she wouldn't mind dancing lead again.) And Lady Longbottom is getting the Weird Sisters to play! And borrowing a few more house elves to really do up the food! This is going to be great! (I did ask Remus why Blaise Zabini instead of Theodore Nott, and he said that while Lady Longbottom might have unbent enough to allow Draco and a few members of the Malfoy client families into her home, no way is Hell was she opening her house to Lord Nott, who is a Lestrange client, by the way, so not sworn to me, which I really should have figured out on my own.)

After dance lessons we had some time, so we all went off to Neville's sitting room and listened to records again. Remus had given Shack a warning about that, and he brought some of the most awesome music, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry and a bunch of guys I'd never heard of. Draco tried to act all superior to the lowly muggle music, but he turned out to really like Spyrogyra, said he'd never heard anything like it and it was fascinating. I asked him, did he know purebloods of our grandparents' generation frequented muggle jazz clubs, and he hadn't known. Really, even the ones Draco considers "the best families." Granted, it was to be daring and to tweak their parents, but still. I also told them about what I'd heard about my grandmother's collection of silent films, and everyone agreed that I had to make a trip to my family vault to see if they were there.

It occurs to me that it's a good thing there's no Earl of Selwyn. Potters are clients of the Earl of Selwyn, not Black. That could be awkward. The Abbotts and Greengrasses are Potter clients, not Black. Huh. I wonder how we'll handle that when it becomes relevant? I guess I'll have to make a point not to get into a feud with myself or Luna (Hmm, maybe that would be a good reason to marry Luna? No, I promised Remus I'd stop thinking about that.)

Anyway, it was a great day and UV and I are going golfing tomorrow while AP takes Dudley shopping. Tango says sleep.

**24 August Saturday**

Golf was great. UV still won, but I tried harder and he still gave me pointers and said I should check out the courses up in Scotland, cos if I keep at it, I might start giving him a run for his money. We had lunch at the club again, and this time I tried a Virgin Mary and Caesar salad and beef stroganoff. It had lots of different kinds of mushrooms in it and it was almost as good as flying. UV bought me a pair of golf ball cuff links because I actually beat him one one hole, and he said don't worry, these were a gift from him, not from myself, and I said really, uncle, it honestly never crossed my mind. The past was ugly, and nothing's going to change that, but we're family. He looked at his feet for a few seconds and said that I was a much better lad than they deserved, and I said, water under the bridge, let's go shoot another nine. So we did. And I am bringing those cuff links to school with me, and if anyone nicks them I swear I will AK them and incendio the remains. Maybe one of the professors knows a spell like Chrestomanci used on his stuff in Charmed Life.


	26. Twenty-six thru Twenty-nine Aug 1991

**26 August 1991 Monday**

This is going to be a busy week. I need to study the Ancient houses so I know how they're allied, and whatever remains of the Sacred 28 and I need to go over properties with UV and talk to Mrs. Figg and check the Potter family vault for those films, and if they're anything like I think they are, get an insurance agency to look at them. There's no way we're going to have the question of residences settled by Friday, so I see Hedwig getting quite a workout. And I should probably meet with Mr. Malfoy at least once before I leave. Have I whined lately that I'm only just eleven. Aaaaaaa!

Anyway, off to class, Remus is waiting.

**Monday evening**

We studied Ancient families in the morning, then Remus taught me how to play Exploding Snap (which I keep wanting to write as Exploding Snape, which is funny but not very nice) and Gobstones and we spent quite a while playing Wizard Chess. Remus also explained to me about Fairy Chess, which isn't chess played with fairies, but actually chess played with different variances of the rules. He said I'm not ready to take that on yet, but it's good to know its out there. There's one variation, Bughouse Chess, that was really popular in Ravenclaw back when Remus and my parents were there. Remus and my mom and Severus played with the Ravens a lot. He explained it to me, and it sounds like a lot of fun, but it takes two boards and four people, so we couldn't try it. He said if there were more time, he'd see if Percy and Cedric were interested.

Funny, when I got my letter, it felt like it was ages until school started and now it feels like the time whipped by and I'm not ready!

And Remus made me promise not to propose marriage or even talk about marriage with anyone this year. OK, Remus, I get it, I get it! (Besides, Luna won't be at school until next year.)

In the evening after dinner, UV and I looked at properties. Some were pretty easy to winnow out, I know they wouldn't like Grimmauld Place or Curdzon Way, for instance, but others have possibilities. Especially I like the look of a couple of places in Elmbridge. If one of them is by the water, we're going there. That would fit in with my runes, and I just have a good feeling about it.

**27 August Tuesday**

This morning we studied specifically the Ancient families aligned with the Blacks and which ones had members that were known Death Eaters. I learned yesterday that Crouches were clients of the Longbottoms, and that Barty Crouch Jr. was one of the ones who tortured Lord Longbottom. The others were the Lestrange heir and his wife and brother, which is what makes Ced heir presumptive. And Crouch Sr. was head of the DMLE at the time, too. He's lucky his son was a legal adult at the time.

This evening I talked to Mrs. Figg and AP and UV. We've picked an absolutely brilliant place by the River Wey in Weybridge, and Mrs. Figg says that she'd have to be insane to turn down a suite of rooms in a place like that, and with all the land attached to it, the cats will have no problem moving there. And Dudley likes it too, so I think we've actually got it sorted. And Smeltings doesn't care where in Surrey we live, so now it's all in UV and AP and Mr. Malfoy's hands and I'll see the place over Christmas hols. So that's one big thing off the list.

[AN: inspiration picture http slash slash www dot dailymail dot co dot uk slash news slash article-1341740 slash A-little-bit-paradise-Surrey-spot-tops-survey-best -places-live dot html]

Now I meet with Mr. Malfoy and go to Gringotts and meet Andromeda Tonks tomorrow.

**28 August Wednesday**

I met with Mr. Malfoy first. We talked business and he told me how to reinstate a family member and he rather exasperatedly went over a list with me, detailing his oath and every way he had thought up so far to get out of it, and why they wouldn't work, and he also told me that Draco would be annoyed with him in the extreme if he had me killed, and whatever else I think of him, please believe that he is fond of his son. I looked at his list and tried to find loopholes he might have missed and he told me that he hoped I enjoyed Slytherin and explained why none of them would work. And he also pointed out that an Earl of Black who is also Harry Potter is his and his family's best protection if the Dark Lamer actually does come back.

On the one hand, yeah, it sounds like keeping me alive and as powerful as possible is in Mr. Malfoy's best interests, but on the other hand, that's an awful lot of people looking to me for safety from a super-powerful raving psychopath. I have got to find out more about Voldemort and figure out if he really was trying to instigate an all-out war between magicals and muggles, with the purebloods crushed in between. Yeah, that's a cheery thought to take with me to school. I think I need to get to know some of the kids whose parents were Deatheaters.

Anyway, I went to the family vault after that. And I thought my vault was full! Wow! It was incredibly well-organized, though. Apparently that was Grandfather Charlus. I found a portrait of him and Grandmother Dorea, too, so I paid my respects and said I'd be sure and have them hung in one of the drawing rooms of my new house. No pictures of my parents, though. I told Grandmother Dorea that Mrs. Figg was my pretend grandmother and she sent her love and said that Billy was always a great storyteller and then told me a bunch of stories about Mrs. Figg, who was apparently quite the tomboy as a girl, and she said she couldn't do the story about the Abraxans justice, so I'd have to get her to tell it.

She also told me right where to look for the films. I had guessed right, it's an amazing collection. Quite a bit of it dates from before the size of film was standardized, and that was another of my "Argh, I'm only eleven!" moments. Grandfather and Grandmother told me to stop worrying, though. The films have a number of protective charms on them and could sit here for centuries just fine. That helped. I asked her to recommend a few of the less valuable and more fun ones I could show my friends, so now I have some Charlie Chaplin and some Laurel and Hardy and Gertie the Dinosaur.

After that, I met with Mr. and Mrs. Tonks and Nymphadora, who is really cool and whom I shall never call "Nymphadora" again, although I do have permission to call her Dora around her family to avoid confusion. I like them a lot. It was a nice long visit and we had tea and biscuits and Dora showed me some of the neat tricks she can do. The metamorphmagus talent doesn't run in the Black line, so I offered to underwrite an inheritance test for Mr. Tonks. He said he'd consider it, but no rush. And now the Black family tree has its first muggleborn on it, so I call this a good day's work.

And Mr. Malfoy said the warders and curse breakers would be out at the new place tomorrow and the floo in my apartments (!) hooked up and warded on Friday, and AP is free to engage movers at her convenience, and since the Dursleys don't have sufficient furniture to fill the place up, would I like to fill in with family pieces, and I asked him if he could please confer with my relatives about most of that, but that I'd select the furniture for my own suite (!) tonight from the catalog. Not that I'm buying new, like a museum catalog, and it might as well be, considering. Some of that stuff is ancient. I also authorized the purchase of a grand piano for the music room and I'm a little, no a lot, surprised neither the Potters nor the Blacks already had one. I thought that was something all rich people had to have, but apparently the Malfoys don't have one either.

And it was a long day for all of us and supper was a nice simple baked beans on toast. The movers will be coming Friday while I'm at the party (AP works fast) and I'll be staying the night at Longbottom Manor and Neville and I will go to the train together, so I'll be saying goodbye to the family and Little Whinging Friday morning before I leave.

I am glad Tango lets me hug him.

**29 August Thursday**

Remus somehow convinced Ced and Percy to stop preparing to leave for a bit, and we spent the morning playing Bughouse chess. I partnered Remus, so I was playing against Ced and he was playing against Percy. It was wild and fast an an awful lot of fun and I think it took all our minds off preparing for school for a while. The guys said they'd never played it before and they'd have to get it restarted at school.

After that, they went back to their packing and stuff and Remus and I took the Knight Bus (he said he couldn't believe he had almost neglected _that_ vital bit of my education!) to the seaside. It was actually unseasonably cool today, so we had the place more to ourselves than we would have and we had a grand time beachcombing and I kicked off my trainers and rolled up my slacks and got my feet wet anyway, because I'd never been to the ocean before. Remus had a camera from who knows where, so he got pictures. I probably looked a right berk, but I don't care, it was fun.

Dinner we all went out for fish and chips and I brought a few home for Tango. I can't wait for tomorrow!


	27. Thirty August 1991

**30 August 1991 Friday**

I can now state with absolute confidence that cats do _not_ like apparating.

I packed up all my stuff last night and this morning and said goodbye to family and neighborhood (UV and I shook hands and he wished me luck at school; AP and I looked at each other funny for a bit then did probably one of the most awkward hugs that ever happened; Dud said "See you at Christmas hols, chump," and punched me in the shoulder, but it was a friendly punch) and Remus came and got me and Tango and we told Hedwig where we were going and let her fly there and we went.

We were early so I could shower and change here and be out of the way of the movers back on Privet Drive and things were pretty chaotic, but Lady Longbottom made time to greet us anyway and then Remus went off to help organize and I went up to the guest suite I used last time and gave my dress robes to the house elf (Max) to shake out or whatever while I got ready.

By the time I got downstairs, people were starting to arrive. Lady Longbottom and Neville were pinned down receiving guests, but I got to wander about and say hi to people after. Millie was one of the first to arrive, and her dress robe was stunning and really suited her. I can't even start to describe the cut, but the color was kind of a bright pink/gold which sounds like it should have been gaudy but went really well with her hair and skin. I told her how great she looked and she thanked me and said that Luna had found it for her way at the back of some rack while Hannah and Susan were busy telling her that she should _not_ wear ruffles. Luna showed up wearing something unearthly looking in shades of sea green and silver and grey, with starfish in her hair. Susan wore cream, Hannah wore white that really showed off her tan, Shack wore something hard to describe in black and flame colors. Neville and I decided we were pretty boring, but Luna said that was fine, because it provided contrast.

After that the others started coming and we met them all and it went pretty well except for a bit of a dust-up between Ron Weasley and Draco, but Neville and I broke that up, explaining that if he insisted on fighting with Draco that Neville and I would have to fight because Draco's family is sworn to me and his is to Neville and both of us are bound as lieges to defend them, and since Ron was the attacker, I got to get in the first punch. Ron was shocked, but we explained it all to him and that since Draco's family was sworn to me and Mr. Malfoy is my regent, they can't be evil anymore even if they want to.

Ron's an awful lot like Draco, really, except less patrician.

There was such a press of people that I didn't really get to know the new ones very well, but at least we've all been introduced and we'll all recognize each other on the train. And I did get to exchange a few words with Morag and Daphne when I danced with them. And Draco introduced me especially to Greg and Chip (Why Chip? Because Dad, Gaffer, and Greatgaffer are all Vincent, so all the usual nicknames are taken.) He and they grew up together, and they're sworn to him rather than his father. I asked if that was usual, and he said it was in his family anyway, the Crabbe and Goyle nearest the age of the Malfoy heir are always sworn to him and attend Hogwarts with him. And a good thing too, Greg said, since they couldn't afford to go otherwise. Most of the kids in the village go to Mrs. Pucey's dame school.

I thought all magical kids went to Hogwarts, but there a lot that don't. There are village schools for the kids who are magical but not quite up to Hogwarts, some people are homeschooled, and there's a bardic academy in Wales. Most of the Gamps go there, and about half of the Burkes, as well as quite a few Ancient families. There's also a yeshiva just for religious Jewish magicals that's known for being _the_ place to study arithmancy.

Anyway, I hung out with them for a while, and Draco introduced me to Pansy and Blaize and Daphne and Morag (or rather presented them to me; he presented everyone to me just as he should have, I'm just not writing it down right) and we made sure everyone had met everyone. I really like Blaize. He's got a wicked sense of humor.

Ernie was still a bit green and scaly, and still really tired, but he thanked me a lot for having invited him, and for writing him the first place. I spent enough time with him that I got his birthday (13 February) and his favorite color (blue) and his favorite food (anything caramel). His favorite musician is his sister, who plays the harpsichord, and he prefers chess to sports. They're Scots, but he doesn't have much accent, and their manor isn't that far from Hogsmeade.

One reason there was such a crush is that all the parents stayed. I wasn't expecting that. It was interesting looking at them all. I didn't realize how many different classes we all were from. The parents all hung out at the far end of the ballroom away from the band except for whichever ones were chaperoning at the time. Percy and Cedric looked in part of the way through and were gobsmacked to see Percy's mom talking with Mrs. Crabbe and Mrs. Goyle.

The Hogwarts professors, or at least all the heads of houses, looked in, too, and Professor Dumbledore came and stayed for the entire time. He looked surprised and pleased and like he was thinking whenever I looked at him. Professor McGonnagle introduced me to Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout and I had a wonderful discussion of agricultural astrology and how much of what I'd already learned about it was useful in a magical context. She said that agricultural astrology is one of the most ancient forms, and predates the statute of secrecy by millennia, so really the only differences between them would be influences of the outer planets, since they were discovered so much more recently.

Professor Snape dropped by to say hello as well, and said that he had been hearing from his various contacts that he should batten down the hatches for a Potter invasion of Slytherin, and I said that that's what Percy and Mr. Malfoy keep telling me. I was leaning toward Hufflepuff myself. He snorted and told me to dream on and bade me good evening until tomorrow.

And it was actually evening already, and everyone was saying goodbye, and Neville and I got lots of hugs, which Lady Longbottom said weren't really proper, but lovely to see nonetheless and that she was much less worried about Neville going off to Hogwarts than she had been.

I don't even remember what lunch was, although I think there was lamb and mint sauce involved at some point. Oh, and animated ice sculptures that served butterbeer and orange squash and something for the adults that I didn't get to try.

While I was walking around, I overheard a really interesting conversation, between two men I didn't know:

"Do you think this is what t'old devil had in mind?"

"D'you think for a second it wasn't? Th' hardcore're all in Azkaban, an' th' rest of us, he's given us a banner to hide under. An' d'you see the Diggory boy running out t' become a Deatheater? Me neither, nor t' Lovegood lass. Face it, if t' Dark Lord comes back, he's comin' back to a very different world from what 'e left. I hope t' boy's up to it."

So do I, gentlemen. So do I.


	28. Coda: Thirty-one August 1991

**31 August 1991 Saturday**

We're on the train! Neville and I got up good and early so we could be the first ones on the train so we could see who else came in, in what order. I'm especially curious to see who comes and looks in our compartment first.

Remus and Mrs. Figg came to see me off and there were hugs and there might have been some crying and Remus took some pictures that he promises to send.

And the platform is starting to fill up, and various people are greeting old friends they haven't seen all summer. I see Prefect Jones in the distance, so I point her out to Neville, and he points out a couple of people he knows. We're both excited to meet our first muggleborn. It will be interesting seeing what all this looks like to a complete outsider, and I can't believe I was one just a month and a half ago.

I've got my new journal, the cordovan leather one, out of my backpack, and once I start meeting people on the train I will start using that one instead. This was the most exciting summer of my life, and now it's over. Am I ready?

But there's someone turning the door handle, so it's time to put this up and officially begin my new life. Bye bye spiral notebook! You were a good friend.


End file.
